[Anna_in_Canberra]

My 5-year old daughter is like this. In the last 6 months or so she's gotten much better at cleaning up at the end of the day, but we're not having much luck with getting her to make less mess in the first place and/or clean up as she goes. She's also a very messy eater.

Better storage has helped a bit, as has reducing clutter (which I need to do more of).

I'll keep reading this thread for other ideas, though!

This post has been edited by Anna_in_Canberra: 01/08/2012, 09:47 PM

[Kathryn74]

Collect anything lying in the wrong spot and put it in a box. Make him buy it back. If he doesn't buy it back, he clearly doesn't want it, so donate/sell it!

I am very close to putting this into action for DD9!!

[~ky~]

11yo DD who is extremely messy - no strategies here as she seems oblivious.

[starsg]

I was like this and my mother used to pick up any belongings I left lying around and put them all in a box. When I inevitably needed/wanted something I'd left out, I didn't get it back until my room was spotless. For every day my room stayed clean, I got something of my choosing back from the box.

If my room got messy again then I got nothing back until it was clean, even if it meant missing sport or going to school with an incomplete uniform (going to school in the middle of winter with no jumper a few times certainly helped the message sink in!)

I'm quite a tidy person now so something must have stuck!

[Carmen02]

my 10yr old DD is like that she is soooo messy! We get them to tidy once a week and they get pocket money once a week and if they have a messy bedroom no pocket money, i dont know if its a real good way to go but it works for us

[luv2travel]

My 8 year old daughter is the same. She leaves a trail of destruction through the house! I have tried most things, including giving her containers to put all her little bits and pieces in but nothing works. I think that's just the way she is and hopefully will improve when she's older.

I did hear of an idea where all the items that are not cleaned up by bed time (especially areas away from her bedroom) go into a tub. Then to get them back, she needs to do a chore. You have to place a container of written chores on the box and she has to pick one. I haven't tried this yet but it may come to this very soon!

Good luck.