{Don't let this super cute face fool you, she will turn your house into a landfill.}
At what point does it cross over from "messy" or "disorganized collector" to full blown "hoarder"??? I'm genuinely afraid that my daughter is just one scrap of paper away from being A&E's newest episode.
Every time my husband and I do a complete clean out if the girls' room I have these visions of visiting my daughter in her home and having to crawl over her mountainous collections of TRASH and... just things.
At 7 years old she is "hoarding" broken things that no longer work, every note ever written or received, notebooks that are filled to the brim with scribbles, paper scraps, artwork, pencils, crayons, markers, both working and dried out, various foods and wrappers, and I can go on. (Although I am sure you're beginning to gather a picture.)
H is responsible for cleaning her room. (Leah is as well, but being 3.5 years younger, not as much is expected from her.) When she is doing her daily clean up her room actually appears to be very tidy! It looks picked up, and relatively clean. Until you look closer.
Open a bin, pull open a drawer, peak under the bed, steal a view of the closet, or even just pull back the window curtain and you will quickly realize H's problem. She doesn't clean, she HIDES.
I have tried everything I can think of to encourage her to purge, organize, and keep her room clean! They've all failed. The frustrating thing is that she she can be SUPER organized! In fact when we had a desk she would organize it just for fun!
Sooooo...anyone have any ideas?! I'm willing to try and do anything at this point. This is my SOS!!
Here's some things we've tried:
Rewards for cleaning, bigger rewards for keeping it clean.
Both short term goals and long term goals.
I've tried plastic bins, cubby systems, drawers, just about every organizational item there is on the market, AND we've tried giving Hailey her own personal trash can for her room.
And I can't count how many times we've helped her get her room in tip top shape, hoping she would be able to at least maintain it, only to have it in shambles less than a week later.
So frustrating. So please, PLEASE, send your ideas, links, comments, or pins! This mama needs help.
2 comments:
When you figure it out, let me know, I'm in the same boat
My answer is the same as Mandi's! My 11 year old doesn't want to throw away anything! She even refuses to let go of clothes that no longer fit.
I swear I could have written this post myself, we've tried all the same techniques. Here's the only trick I know... wait until she's at school or away and throw things away. Most of the time I'll take a small amount and she doesn't even notice.
Post a Comment