A Fool Proof Way to Keep Your Child's Room Clean

If you find yourself nagging your child to clean his or her dirty room, know you have plenty of parents for company.

I think with this ingenious idea that could be a problem of the past. First, if your child insists he or she should be able to keep his room any way he wants to. Explain to him, when he pays his part of the mortgage, utilities, food, and all other household expenses that he benefits from, he can do just that, but since you take care of all those things, he has to follow your rules.

A child is not a boarder. He is a member of the family, and that membership carries with it certain responsibilities. Keeping a clean room is a small price to pay, and should not be the only price. It is good discipline and is justified on those basics alone.

1. Start a service in your home called: Mom for Hire Service.
2. Open each child an account, good for the amount for their weekly allowance.
3. Tell them exactly what you expect of them, and make a list for each child. Tell them exactly when you expect the chores to be done. You might want them to leave a clean room every morning when they go to school. You might want them to leave the room neat when they go to bed, and make up the bed when arising in the morning. If they are to clean mornings be sure to get them up in time to do so.
4. Make a list for each child with the service Mom will provide and the fee, such as picking up clothes, putting things away, making beds, taking out garbage. Make the fee low enough so the child can pay from his or her allowance, but high enough so they will feel the pinch.
5. When a chore is not done, don't nag. Do the work cheerfully, and feel free to take away anything you feel is not necessary. If the child is in the house all the better. Explain that is the way Mom's for Hire Service works.
6. When you finish the job, post his or her bill and tell him it is charged to their account. Subtract it from his account and show him how much allowance it leaves for him at the end of the week.
7. Follow step 5 every time you do a chore for a child. Do it cheerfully with no nagging.
8. You will hear protests but stick to your guns. If they go with out an allowance for a week or two, they will know you mean business. Explain to them they can't have their cake and eat it too.
9. Don't feel you are a mean mom. You will have a quieter, happier home, and instead of high blood pressure, mom will get a chuckle out of helping her kids become responsible members of the family.