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Original poster

So let me re- phrase this now messy/tidy are your kids bedrooms?

21 replies

HondaDream · 13/09/2005 12:11

My kids rooms are tips. They hate tidying up as much as I do. How bad do you let it get before you lose the plot?

OP posts:

AnnieQ · 13/09/2005 12:18

Once they get to a certain age, my attitude is that it's their room, it's their responsibility. If they hate tidying up more than being tidy then it's their decision. You shouldn't have to always clean up after them once they're capable of doing it themselves.

However, you are the boss and you can send them to tidy their rooms, and you can also insist that dirty laundry is brought out regularly, and that no food is left to fester under beds etc. You have to be prepared to put your money where your mouth is though - if they have to tidy up their bits, they need to see that you are keeping your bits tidy too.

spidermama · 13/09/2005 12:23

My kids rooms used to get terrible and I'd leave it until an injury occured before tidying. It's better now, largely because I've been up there wide eyed and clutching a black bin liner lately.

LIZS · 13/09/2005 12:23

I cannot see the floor in dd's room (she's 4) mainly because her bed takes up half the room and Barbies and dolls the rest.

Original poster

HondaDream · 13/09/2005 12:26

it's my last resort vacuum and binbag. I wouldn't mind in the past as they had no shelves etc but now after extensive furniture buying there is a place for everthing and everything should be in it's place right?

OP posts:

MrsMills · 13/09/2005 12:28

What age do you think they should be responsible for keeping their rooms tidy?

DS1 is 5 and does quite a good job occasionally, without me having to ask. I still have to clear up clothes that just get thrown off, landing on lights, top bunks, curtain rails etc.

burstingbug · 13/09/2005 12:30

never mind the kid's room's you ought to see ours !
ds is too small to destroy his room yet.

Original poster

HondaDream · 13/09/2005 12:33

mine are 5, 6 and 7 and I think it is about time to start.

OP posts:

charliecat · 13/09/2005 12:39

My kids room right now is quite tidy, has little playmobil sets up in every corner but is ok. I left it ALL summer holidays and just shut the door and let them play peacefully and the sunday before they started back at school i gutted the place.
Wont go in there again till the half term for a full tidy. They will maintain it till then and I will change the beds but thats it.

Tortington · 14/09/2005 05:03

when i cant see the floor - we had this this weekend actually, i gave them bin bags and told them to cull clothes. i told them i didnt want to see what they dont/wont wear just chuck it so i dont "know" then i sat on their bed and watched them tidy up. made them sort out drawers and file cd's and games nicely, made them sort out tangled wiring and then i helped them change their beds.

now listen to this... told my daughter to do the same. she told me she had three times each time went into her room and said " err where is it tidy exactly" pulled off a blanked covering clothes she cant be arsed to hang up - gound a piece of bread so old and rock hard on her side that i tapped a tune with it.

so she starts slamming doors and loosing the plot - dh loses the plot takes her puter out of her room "UNTIL END OF THE MONTH GRRRRRR" lots of screaming and shouting upstairs. then when i went up to change boys bed looked in on her and shes climbed out her bedroom window and sat on the telecom box at the end of the street. dh drags her in another flip ensues words along the lines of " you have always hated me" and such where i hear " lisa come and sort it out"
" err no love its not my barny this time you sort it"

all this over tidying her own mess!

Steppy1 · 14/09/2005 05:23

...their rooms areresonably tidy (you can see the floor) but lets talk playrooms....as soon as I tidy it's back to being a tip agan...it drives me insane !!!!!

Original poster

HondaDream · 14/09/2005 08:23

custardo your place sounded like mine did yesterday. I sucesfully managed 2 out of 3 tidyclean rooms. DS was dreadful and he's only 7 god I am dreading the years to come.

OP posts:

ggglimpopo · 14/09/2005 08:30

Message withdrawn

dejags · 14/09/2005 08:47

I must be terribly fussy but my kids rooms are generally neat and tidy. The kids have a toyroom which is often a tip but I can't go to bed without tidying it up first.

All my weird personality things are coming out this week - I have a confession to make - I can't bear it when the toys aren't packed away in their groups (i.e. Noah's Ark all the characters and toys should be together, ELC BBQ - all pieces packed in their respective slots, Bob The Builder workbench - all tools packed away).

eek... I am becoming a fusspot in my old age.

Tortington · 14/09/2005 12:55

shes 12 and the most disgusting little girl i ever did know

LadyTophamHatt · 14/09/2005 13:04

ATM, every room in the house is spotless and un-naturally tidy because we're trying to sell it.

TwinSetAndPearls · 14/09/2005 20:13

I think it is quite common for girls to have disgusting rooms.

My dd who will be four at the end of the week tends to get her playroom and bedroom very untidy if left to her own devices but this is where dp army background comes in. He will come home from work and announce that he will inspect rooms after tea, he then makes a great fuss out of asking where the binbags are incase they are needed. Dd does then tidy up to the best of her ability - so you can see the floor.

TwinSetAndPearls · 14/09/2005 20:15

dejags I am like that about toys, dd has a shleving unit with labelled boxes for diffent types and age appropriate toys. I can't bear the wrong toys going in the wrong box. I run mother and toddler groups and feel my pulse rise every week as I watch toys being hurled randomly into boxes.

Skate · 14/09/2005 20:15

Ds1 and ds2 - very tidy because it barely has toys in it, just beds, chest of drawers adn built in wardrobes. all the toys are in teh playroom.

ds3 - very tidy, no toys, he's only 1!

Skate · 14/09/2005 20:17

Me too dejags - when FIL was here he was 'helping' to tidy the playroom and it was making me cringe as he threw road track into the train basket and vice versa - he also threw some animals in there and bits off the workbench. Everytime he went out the room I was picking it all otu and putting it in the right baskets!

Anal? Moi?

Posey · 14/09/2005 20:21

My kid's bedrooms are immaculate
I have spent a day in each of them sorting out, clearing out, rearranging, and they look fabulous now. Both have quite a lot of stuff in smallish rooms, but dd is old enough and "good enough" to keep it reasonably tidy.
Dd isn't but his stuff is all plastic stuff that gets plonked in plastic boxes. Have just cleared out all his baby toys.

Original poster

HondaDream · 14/09/2005 21:46

Christ you are all so good. We no longer have a playroom since it was always such a mess dh just got pissed off with kids never tidying it( he used to lock them in on sat morning) as I had got so fed up during the week but eventually he turfed them out and now our playroom has a piano and some guitars. hence why their rooms are a mess as their suff just migrated upstairs.

OP posts:

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