I was so tired of battling my kids to get them to clean up their toys each day until I tried this 1 easy trick to get your kids to clean up! It works every time, and they think it is a game!
It was 5 o’clock and I felt the nagging mommy coming out. Girls, come clean up the playroom. Girls, there are toys everywhere. Girls, all this needs to be picked up before dinner. Girls, we can’t have any playdates this week if you can’t clean up your toys. Girls…..
Agghh, I just hate that side of me. I mean, honestly, I annoy myself so I KNOW my kids are not going to respond to this kind of talk. So why was I continuing to do it? Because I just wanted the toys picked up off of the floor!
Then I remembered reading something at one point (prior to when I needed this great tip) and I put it into action. Let’s see if this is really going to work, I said all jaded and doubting.
So what is my 1 easy trick to get your kids to clean up?!
Be ready – it’s so easy!
When it comes time for cleanup, find a hula hoop (we bought ours at dollar store but you can find them everywhere super cheap right now).
Tell your children you are going to toss the hula hoop in the playroom (or whatever room is a mess).
They then need to clean up everything inside the hula hoop as fast as they can.
Once they clean that area, we do it again…And again…And again. And before you know it, the whole room is cleaned up in a very short time. And they don’t fuss one time because it happens in small increments and it basically becomes a game!
You honestly can’t believe how well this will work for your children. It’s all a mindset for them. The same is true for adults – we know we have so many chores- unpack the dishwasher, clean the toilets, pack lunches, sweep, dust, etc. And if we look at our big list, it just seems overwhelming and a drag, to be quite honest.
But if we…unpack the dishwasher, we feel accomplished. And we feel motivated. Because we are checking off little things that lead to something greater. And we want to do something else because it doesn’t seem so insurmountable.
Same exact concept with the hula hoop. Ever since I started using this trick, the girls don’t complain about cleaning up at all!
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