Dealing With Your Children's Messiness

Little kids are almost unaware of the fact that what isprecious household items.
messiness and what is not. They like to play withDo's
things all around them. But it is important to note here- Grandma's Rule
that children do not do this willingly. It is just becauseSometimes, you see that your child is not willing to
they are not aware of the facts. It is your duty asclean the mess. Here you have to use different
parents to teach them how to clean things up. Telltechniques to encourage your child to do that task. For
them the importance of being neat and clean andexample, you can use grandma's rule to motivate
keep the surroundings neat and clean. Teach themthem as, ask them you can allowed to go outside if
gradually and instead of punishing them, encourageyou picked those blocks up. In this way you can
them for little efforts. Here are few points given tomotivate them to do the tasks.
teach your children to deal with messiness- Work Together
appropriately.Always try to work with your small children. As they
Clean as You Goare not capable of doing the big cleaning jobs, assist
As parent it is your responsibility to tell your child howthem in cleaning so that they not only learn the
to put things or toys away immediately after playing.importance of cleaning but also cooperating others.
This will help your child to become an organized- Play Beat the-Clock
person in the future and he or she would know thatTo make tough task easy for your child, try to play
where to keep things after playing with them.Beat the Clock with your children. You can offer
Guide them to Clean the Messdifferent rewards for beating the time. If your child beat
In the start you need to be a guide to your child anda time you can offer him or her to take out another
show him the containers and cans in which they willtoy.
keep their toys and other playthings. Teach them how- Encourage and Praise your Children
to keep things in the containers and where to putEncouragement is a strong tool in teaching your
them.children a good thing. Keep encouraging and praising
Be Specificfor every good act to boost or motivate them.
You need to be very specific so that your child willEncouragement can be a verbal reward in the form of
understand what he or she exactly needs to do. Likepraising or in form of toy or other plaything.
tell them to put the blocks in the box or put the pegs inDon'ts
the bucket etc.- No Punishment
Guide them to Use Adequate Cleaning SuppliesRemember, children learn things gradually and you
As child he or she does not know what to use forhave to give them enough time to get familiar with the
cleaning the mess. It is your duty to tell them or givethings. Punishing them will demoralize them. Teach
them the adequate cleaning supplies like cloth, brush.them with love the importance of cleanliness.
Reinforcement is necessary throughout the teaching- No Perfection
process.Don't expect perfection from your children. They are
Limitationsnot mature enough to clean the mess properly.
Certain limitations are there to prevent the mega- Don't expect Children to Dress themselves for a
damages. For instance, if you are planning to give yourMess
child to work with finger-paints, markers, clay orIt is always important to provide old clothing to your
crayons, confine or limit them to a certain place to playchild before letting him play with messy things for he
with such things. Because they don't know that theynever knows the importance of clean clothing.
are not required to spoil the sofas, carpets or other