Ever found yourself nagging your kids to tidying up their room? 

My hand is raised….

With a new baby in the house, I’ve found myself doing a lot of nagging lately to tidy the room. Which also made me realise how much I must have been  tidying the girls room for them pre baby. 

I like our home to look lived in however ….

too much clutter and mess creates stagnant energy, which can affect our children’s health, behaviour and especially the bedtime rhythm. 

Lately we’ve been experiencing a new kind of tidying up where all the clothes get ‘dumped’ into the dirty clothes basket – even if they’ve only been worn for a split second.

I try to see my children as my teachers, so after noticing myself nagging more than normal, I decided to switch positions and ask myself how I could approach the situation in a new way?

How could I empower my children to be able to tidy their room and perhaps even want to, without me asking?

I went and looked at the room and noticed where the mess was…

• clothes left on the end of the bed
• folded washing that wasn’t even making it into drawers
• built up of little bits and bobs
• the beds were not being made. We had the girls beds pushed together which worked when I was laying with them to go to sleep each night, however since having baby number 3 hasn’t been happening. Also having a bedside table on either side of the beds was making the room feel even smaller.

Ultimately too much stuff and not enough “homes”.

So we decided to rearrange the furniture (always a wonderful option if you ask me), clear the clutter and make space for all the essentials.

We took care of the furniture moving and I asked the girls to help me with choosing which items to keep and which we could take to the local charity shop.

Infusing a little of our time in refreshing the space, can really help our children in being able to keep things tidy + the added intention and thought offers the space a fresh invigorated energy.

I could see when my littlest was helping sort through all the accumulated treasures ……how burdensome too much stuff can be for our children. I would even suggest for younger children, say under 5 years that you do the sorting for them.

It’s such a challenge these days as our children are often given so many gifts + so many “free” items from various places. They all add up and create a lot of clutter.

For a young child, often the chore of tidying up can seem huge especially when all the items don’t have clear and consistent homes. 

I really have seen the difference in not nagging and instead empowering them to be able to tidy up themselves. Something that we have always done with the play area.

Since the re-arrange, I’ve been helping the girls for say 15 minutes each Sunday to make sure any lost items find their homes, and so the room is ready for the week ahead. Our children really love when we take the time to do things with them – even when we think they may be old enough to do it on their own. Doing simple home tasks together forms strong connections with our children.

I’ve also noticed that bed times have been much easier and the girls are also much more willing to make their beds and put away clothes.

I hope you’ll also be inspired to see the mess in your child’s room as a call for some clutter clearing and re-organisation to enable your child to 

Pop back and tell me how you go. Did you experience good results? I’d love to hear from you.

Natalie x