What does “go clean your home” mean to a young child ?

When you tell your children to go and clean their bedroom, what does that mean to them?  It could mean hiding all their clothing, toys and trash under the bed.  It could mean tossing and hiding all their trash and toys in the closet and then closing the closet door.  Your child would say, “Okay mom/dad, I am done with my room.” You would say, “Wow, how could they have cleaned their room that fast?”  The fact of the matter is that you (mom and dad) must define what you mean when asking your child to clean their room.

Here are some helpful tips that I used with my children:

Key point: make sure you take your child’s age into consideration.  You are not going to tell a four-year-old to do their laundry.  The chores should be age appropriate.

• Start with a mini contract.  Make sure that it is in writing.
• Start with a short list of chores and then gradually increase the list as your children age.
• Get the children involved in putting the contract together.
• Make sure that you have rewards and consequences included in the contract.
• Make sure that you (mom and dad) are consistent with the rewards and consequences.

I would love to hear, IN MY  BLOG , some of your parenting tips used in getting your children to do their chores around the house.