How to get kids to clean up toys without fighting
Broad commands like "put your toys away" leave children staring at a chaotic room of mixed blocks, books, and pieces, which makes them feel overwhelmed and try to bail. This ambiguity leads to avoidance tactics like hiding in the bathroom or faking injuries, leaving parents frustrated and doing the work themselves.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Breaking down instructions into a single task at a time
- 2Turning cleanup time into a game with music or themes
- 3Helping alongside the child and modeling the cleaning process
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I keep saying "put your toys away" when there are blocks, books, and pieces from different things all over the room. Then I get frustrated that he hasn't started, even though I haven't really told him where to start.”source ↗
“My 11 and 6 year olds still try the same thing. 11 year old conveniently finds her way into the bathroom whenever the topic comes up and my 6 year old likes to come up with an injury to an appendage that prevents him from cleaning.”source ↗
“It’s pretty overwhelming for them to see all of the stuff they need to clean up so they try to bail.”source ↗
Where this came up
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