Why Can’t the Kids Clean Up?

Why don’t kids help clean up? Is this just an American thing? Because I know that my friend who son is half German that she has shown pictures of him neatly lining everything up, even his shoes under his bed. So some kids must want to live in a clean house where they put their toys away right?

Not any of my kids though. Not if they are left to their own devices. I know I have watched, I have purposely not cleaned up after them or put away all their detritus and it has just stayed there for as long as I can stand it, weeks, months or until they have completely forgotten that the thing even existed.

My eldest is currently sharing a room with my youngest and there is about a 7 ½ years age difference. For personality and need to snuggle at night, they are perfectly matched, but of course their skills at being able to put things away are not at all matched.

We have just moved. We are having an open house in a couple of days. So every afternoon I have been after I am done working and shuttling kids to their activities I have been organizing and cleaning up one room. Putting things away, dusting, making sure it looks like a room we would like our friends to visit. The artwork and photographs haven’t gotten hung yet (mainly because I haven’t found our hangers) but otherwise, it is all good. All that is left is the kitchen at this point and the outside and I have a friend coming to help me with the kitchen tonight.

My kids are done with me and the cleaning/unpacking/organizing though. They complain bitterly that I am doing it and not doing whatever it is they want me to do. They complain when I ask them to take more things upstairs, or down to the basement or get me the broom etc.

They do however love the room when it’s finished and talk about how pretty it is and how much better it looks. They then proceed to play in said room and not pick up after themselves.

And I wouldn’t mind if they took the reminders to clean up well. I get it, it’s not a lot of fun to put your stuff away. It is even less fun when you have to put someone else’s stuff away! Believe me!

Some days I am just too tired. Like I literally have nothing left, no energy to do any sewing or knitting, or mending, absolutely nothing left and it’s hard to pick up after my own self let alone them. But most of the time I do pick up after me.

I wish I had a magic wand that would help convince them to pick up and put their stuff away. To put all the ingredients back in the fridge when they are done constructing their sandwich. To put all there dishes in the sink or dishwasher and put the serving dishes away too.

Some of my daughters have gotten really good at walking all the way downstairs at night to put their laundry down the shoot into the basement. Other of my girls leave their laundry in the upstairs bathroom for days…

Once we get caught up on the laundry backlog they are going to get to start washing their own laundry, because maybe that will stop them from constantly losing their laundry in the process as well. And maybe it will feel more fair all the way around.

But we have to get caught up on that laundry monster and with the party coming, it is going to get to wait until after the party before I have the big push to clean all the clothes and get them sorted and put away. We will just have to wait and see.

Are you one of those lucky moms whose kids naturally pick up after themselves? If you are can you share your secret recipe or magic wand? Is there a special vitamin I need to feed them? Is there a possibility that someday they might clean up after themselves?

Or are they doomed to be gross roommates in the future? I know they say creative people tend to live in chaos, but I can never tell if that’s just because their brains got used to it or if they really are happier that way. I think I am happiest with a maid. We aren’t quite at the point where we want to pay for one yet. But maybe I should look into one. They at least don’t complain.