Cleaning/organizing/chores for kids

[nicolewi]

I am so excited about summer. However, I also feel like I need to get a better handle on the kids/messes/rules before break. Our house has an open layout and can be destroyed in no-time. I am not good at organizing systems for this. What rules do you have/incentives do you use, etc, to keep things under control? 

The kids can make a giant mess in minutes and then it takes FOREVER to clean up, and they are really bad about it. Lots of whining. 2 year old is mostly useless and 4 year old is really bad about cooperating. Big cleanups often disintegrate into me yelling and lots of frustration, and the big kids complaining they are doing everything. In addition to toys everywhere, we have a problem with finding socks/hairbands everywhere, and clothes on the floor. I have talked about this enough and feel like I need some kind of incentive, or that I get something when I find things on the floor. It's also hard b/c I am often the only adult here, so when I tell someone to do something and go off with a different kid, I sometimes don't notice until much later that they didn't do it all the way. We have rules, but enforcement is hard. I.e. they are supposed to hang up coats and put shoes in the shoe bin, but then I always find coats on the floor and am constantly reminding them. I want them to start getting some of this on their own!

I kind of want to have a pre-summer meeting and lay out the rules again. I was thinking of standardizing helping with dinner, to assign people different tasks like setting the table wiping it off, or sweeping the floor. And having them make beds every morning, which we don't do now. Kids are 8, 6, 4 and 2. What other chores do your kids do, and what are their ages? 

[nowa]

No advice but I need to follow this thread!

[Deleted]

Our big kids have to clean their room once a week and if they get overwhelmed, i say "pick up the legos...now pick up the ponies...now pick up the clothes...now pick up the whatever"...sometimes i think they can't see HOW to clean and need some instruction....they're *pretty* good about doing it independently now, but sometimes need a reminder or push of what to do next

(the little guys are learning how to put toys away...at 20 months though, it's pretty basic)

they keep their shoes in a cubby and hang their coats, but sometimes the coats fall off or don't quite make into the cubby--thats not a battle i fight haha

they also put away their laundry each week

they clean up their own dishes and help unload the dishwasher when asked

they have to tidy up the living room each day before video time (the basement playroom stays a hot mess usually--we clean that up once a month maybe? and it's a whole family effort...the living room is open and is mostly whatever they just got out that day)

the last thing is they help clean is the bathrooms each saturday--they do counters, sinks, toilets, mirrors and tubs

we occasionally ask them to do other things but those are their regular ones...we just often say we need them to do something "we are a family, and part of being a family is helping out and making sure the house is clean and running well"

Good luck!

[soexcited317]

I also struggle with this.... But, we were at friends a while back, and they did something kind of neat. They had a large shopping bag and drew a monster face on it.  They had certain expectations for when their kids needed to pick up their toys and if the kids didn't follow through, the "monster" would eat their stuff.  Then the kids had to earn back their stuff.  Their kids are younger, but I thought it was a cute idea.  I think they mostly used this method with their four year old.

[dizzycooks]

I like the idea of reevaluating before summer. I have several ideas pinned but I haven't worked on anything.
Our typical expectation is that beds are made when they dress and brush their teeth. I'm looser on picking up toys, but we need to work on picking up as we go and doing what we see needs doing rather than walking by.
I do think there is benefit to having assigned chores that rotate.
Things they already do:
Setting/clearing table, picking up dog poo, putting away laundry, taking out trash
I'd like to add:
Wiping down bathroom, rinsing and loading dishwasher, more frequent picking up