Clean up time!!!

[FS2011]

Love to make a mess but hate to clean up! How does everyone handle this at your DC? Do you have rules for different ages? Games? Songs? Do you allow free play to become a big mess then clean up or use a toy then put it away? What works and what doesn't?

I have a toddler that doesn't understand clean up yet, she's just under 2. So I take her and the toy to the toy bin and we put them away together. The other is 4 and hates clean up. I need ideas for making it fun!? I use a sticker system if he does a good job without complaining, or we play a song and try to finish before the songs over, same goes with a egg timer. Any help out there?

[Emilys4Guppies]

I'm a big fan of www.flylady.net She's awesome! It's totally revolutionized how I handle my home and business maintenance/cleaning.

With the kids I let them use a bin of toys at once...we have 12 bins in the playroom. Make a mess and play with one bin and then we tidy it up before we switch it up. I also help them tidy...and give specific jobs. "Sarah, please pick up the fire truck and put it in the basket!" and then another job when that is done, until the place is tidy. I find they respond better when I model the behaviour that I want to see...cheerfulness, and helping.

[playfelt]

TV is a great motivator for most kids unfortunately. I give the time to pick up warning and they know the tv will come on when they are done to MY satisfaction and they can watch till lunch is ready which if I have figured it right that day based on how much mess and what is involved with lunch should give them about 15 minutes of TV. I call them out one at a time for diaper changes during the cleanup phase. If they don't get it done quickly well then we go straight into lunch and a reminder the next day of why they missed out on TV usually causes a scramble. Pick up works so much better if they really want is coming next.

I have found that grouping like toys together and limiting where they can be use has helped a lot in the sense that when dressup stuff can only be played with in the dressup corner. At least the pathways stay clear. If I see a child leaving an area without cleaning up they get a reminder and then physically taken back if they don't go on their own - rule is you stay with your first mess till you clean it up.

[giraffe]

We always tidy before we change activities... clean up then circle time, clean up then lunch etc. It usually keeps them motivated. We do this 4 - 5 times per day.

Oh and to op, in my opinion a little on under 2 is quite capable of cleaning up I do the same as E4Guppies, give specific jobs to sepcific children. Dc1 pick up the rings, dc2 pick up the dressup clothes, dc3 tidy up the cars....

[Play and Learn]

My almost two year old loves to clean up! We clean up throughout the day, but when my hubby is home, they clean the floors together and clean up all the toys! Because we primarily play upstairs in our family room, she and hubby clean up the toys and bring them to the guest room/sleep room at the end of the day. It's really cute!

But yes, you can always get the little ones to help you clean up. Just as the others have said, give each child a specific task, and help them if need be!

[lilac]

I have 4, 5 and 6 year olds. All in school on differnt days... my issue with cleaning up is that the boys mostly (5 and 6) usually get anything and everything they can get their hands on in the play room and build with it, insanely, so creatively but its always a disastrous mess and then there is huge drama (mostly from my son 5) when they are asked to clean it up because they worked SOOOOOO hard on building it! Then when the kids that have been in school that day come home, when we clean up at the end of the day I get "but I didnt get that out" "I wasnt playing with that" "Why do I have to clean up their mess?" Etc etc. Also, my parents pick up anytime between 4 and 5:30 on any given day, because i never know when a particular child will be going home when clean up time comes around, usually, someone has already left without having to clean up and then we start with the corus again!! <sigh> Anyhow....

[Emilys4Guppies]

We clean up before the first pickup...and then children get to do individual/quiet activities until they get picked up. In nice weather we go outside after our cleanup to wait for parents.

I don't cut my 5-6-7 year olds slack...if they give me grief at cleanup time then they don't get to haul out the lego for the next day (Lego is where I hear it the most with the "but we worked so hard!"). Also, if you are playing in the toy room, regardless of what you are playing with, you help tidy without complaint. I wouldn't, for example, make Mary tidy the toy room if she spent her after-school time playing on the piano.

Part of my "family style" care is that everyone helps clean up...I clean up everyone else's messes and they help clean up each other's messes. Being in a 'family' means we help each other, and we do so with a smile on our faces. :)

[Sunflower]

I would like to know when you do yours? Do you do your daycare cleaning during daycare hours? What about the rest of the house... do you do it when they nap or do you do it during the evenings and weekends ?
Do you have someone come in and clean for you ? ( I would loooove that !:laugh:)

[Emilys4Guppies]

Cleaning.......

I do the majority of my routine first thing in the AM before kids arrive. Bathroom swipes, beds made, dishwasher emptied, load of laundry in, and sweep. I tidy as we go through the day (the children help with toys and activities). I do meal/snack prep and dishes, and put away laundry during nap. The rest of the cleaning gets done on the weekends.

[Play and Learn]

Wish I could do laundry during the day - but it's high peek time for us (totally sucks), so I do laundry on weekends when it's cheapest.

Don't have a dishwasher - have made hubby promise to get one once we have kids of our own (but that's another 2 years down the road). I wash dishes after snacks and while they're eating the end of their lunch.

We tidy toys throughout the day, and then my 22 month old girl and I (or hubby) clean up the remaining toys and put them in another room. Hubby cleans the floors (we have hardwood and tile) usually on Fridays after work, and on weekends I clean the bathrooms.

It would be nice to have a cleaning lady, but we're so particular on how we clean, she would have to be amazing! lol

It would be nice to clean throughout the evenings, but that's when I teach my dance students. :(

[FS2011]

Cleaning...whats that!??? HAHA :)
Seriously though...I keep a perfectly clean daycare centre in which I clean during daycare hours as I get time or at quiet time. My house is another story...its awful, maybe I should consider cleaning it during quiet time.

[Sunflower]

So far I have tried a few different methods and found that cleaning after daycare hours made the days feel so long,wore me out and ate up the little bit of time I have to spend alone with my own kids. So now, I do all the daycare cleaning during daycare hours ( except for the disinfection of toys which I do Fridays since my daycare is open Mon-Thurs)
I clean up the snack and lunch dishes while the kids do a little free play,puzzles,drawing s etc.
I clean the bathroom at the end of the day while they put their bedding away.
I wash the floors while they nap and on Thursdays I put all the bedding in the washing machine as soon as they wake up.

I also do the majority of my housework during nap time. There is always laundry to be done around here so I also do this during the day. Although I fold it while they nap.
I also do all my paperwork during nap time.
This system works for me and I love having more free time in the evenings and weekends. (family loves the system too lol)

[Emilys4Guppies]

I'm shamelessly addicted to flylady.net
Anyone else here a FLYbaby?

[vrvasile]

i usually let my child to do everything he wants but sometimes when he do a big mess i tell him that isnt good what he do.

[mamaof4]

hey all! I merged to clean up threads!!!

[Alisa]

Most kids have a talent to mess things up. Throw toys and other things all over the house. Get food stains onto clothes during self-feeding. And mess up the dishes in an unbelievable way. We parents spend time to clean up all the thing again and again. For making the cleaning-up easier, please prepare some boxes to collect babies' toys, make sure your kids wear a baby bib when they are eating, get effective dish scrubber (https://www.cfone.net/scrubber.html) and dish soap for washing-up.

[dalevel47]

Yeah, I think so.

[Peacefulbird]

Last week I was sooooo proud.

I have started a new program, familiarizing preschool children with the school, so lucky enough to know jk sk teachers in the school we decided to start slowly visiting and observing what the big Kids do in the school.

Then we had chance to visit our future classroom and spend some time here and there to explore activities presented in the class. So my group got in for the first time and started exploring but when they have finished they placed things where they were found.

Before starting to explore they have asked the teachers "can we touch things?" The teachers said "yes", and between them they said to each other "yes!! We can touch, but remember our rule we can touch everything but we always put it back when we are done !!!" So they did. They explored they got things down and as they moved in the classroom they kept placing things away, same as it works at my daycare. The teachers had to write our main rule so, they can start with this approach they are amazed on how well organized we leave their classroom during our visits. And on top of that my group knew that their future classroom should look beautiful.

I start with this process as soon as they enter daycare it progresses during the years and finally I had to see it that it pays off. Parents kept telling me that to put toys or other things away wasn't an issue for them, but I thought it was just in my place.
Anyway, there you have some food for thought:) it all starts when they're little.

[harahev33]

Sometimes children are very messy. For my apartment cleaning, I use eMop (https://www.emop.co.uk/) service and I'm pretty satisfied with the result. At least my family becomes less allergic.

[Prouser1]

Hi!!! I have a good idea for you to lighten the load, there are little things you can do every day to make the room cleaner: wipe off any stains or splatter on the mirror, keep the sink and countertops dry, wipe down the toilet seat and faucet handles every two or three days. You'll find that bathroom cleaning (https://www.fortador-usa.com/blog/how-to-clean-bathroom-complete-guide-for-bathroom-cleaning) will become a chore rather than a constant chore, I just follow this advice and it has helped me a lot.

[kriss31234]

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