Tidying rooms

[Delbelleber]

How do you get your kids to tidy their rooms? I have an 11yr old and 6yr old and doesn't matter how many times I tell them they just don't do it. Aaah it's driving me mad.

A bit extreme but when i was younger my room was always incredibly messy, never listened to mum or dad and one day they took my door off, it was tidy ever since! I know it probably seems a bit barbaric and an invasion of privacy but it really did work. They used to threaten to take items out of my room etc all the stuff that was on the floor/not in the right place would go in the bin.. have you tried that?

Ye sometimes the threat of a black bag gets them going but they do it so slooooow and half arsed.
I put a load of clean washing in ds room and instead of putting it away he put it back in the laundry basket ffs

@basicwitches I'll be stealing that idea for the future!

This is one of those holy grails of parenting! I fear it's a higher priority for parents than kids. Mine are 10 and 12, and the most effective ways (I wish they weren't) are bribery and getting in there and helping them!

Carrying through with the threat of the black bag does help sometimes. I used to do that - I didn't throw their stuff away - they could have it back if they had tidied, and if they put the black bag stuff away tidily too.

Sorry - posted too soon.

The best way I found to get their bedrooms tidy, was to get them to grow up and leave home! Of my three dses, two have graduated and moved out to homes of their own, and the third is in his final year at university, so he is the only one who still has stuff in his room at home - and in fairness, it is a bit of a mess (but I can just shut the door on it).

Fingers crossed he will get his degree this summer, and will find a job and somewhere to live, and will take the rest of his stuff from here - and then all three of 'their' rooms will be tidy!

I realise this is not a lot of help to those of you who are currently struggling with kids and their messy rooms - sorry.

We/ they normally tidy their shared pit on a Saturday morning, with the promise of something nice "AFTER you've finished". My problem is that they are 4 and 9, and the 4 year old is both better at making a mess, and worse at clearing it up. If I leave them to do it themselves there are noises of the 9 year old using disproportionately violent tactics to get his brother to comply, so I usually have to stand over them like a UN peacekeeper