In this episode, Saren shares some experiences she’s had with one of those age-old parenting issues – getting kids to clean up their room. She also shares some helpful tips for figuring out when it may be time to “give up” or simply let up on certain things that we want our children to do as we respect their opinions and needs and build our relationships with them.
*If you’d like to read the material in this episode rather than listening, click here.
Show Notes
If all else fails, just give up (post that Saren reads)
Audio Editing by Christy Elder
Kathleen says
Love the webcast on “giving up” – your daughter sounds a lot like mine and I need to decide what is important and what is not.
Laura Hochstein says
Loved this. Question about the Saturday rule of having rooms sanitary “clean” before they get to go out. What about Saturdays when there is something going on (eg., family outing, soccer game etc); how do you handle it when one child has not done their room before the time to leave has come? Thanks!
Saren Eyre Loosli says
Good question, Laura. Sometimes on Saturdays we need to be out the door early for a committment or plan and I ask my kids to get their rooms done Friday afternoon instead. Or if that doesn’t work out, they need to do their rooms as soon as we get back from whatever we did that morning, before they can do anything else.
Laura says
Thanks for that. It makes so much sense now that you’ve answered the question.
Ashley says
This was wonderful. I swear you all know what is on my mind! 🙂 I have really been trying to work on routines and how things need to be done around the house with my boys (7 and 5). I want everything done to my standards and want them to do it without being nagged. After listening to this I realize a may need to lower my standards a little. Thanks for sharing this. I know you already know this, but you have an amazing daughter. I chatted with her and Grace at the retreat for a second. They seem to have things together. They have some great examples showing them how.
Rachel Nielson says
This was one of my favorite podcasts yet. The title of your post is hilarious. Thanks for being so real! And thanks for publishing that podcast with your sons about phone use, even though they were being so uncooperative and giving you one-word answers, because it was hilarious to listen to and made me realize that even if kids have Super Moms, they are still kids! I’m so glad you went ahead and published that!
Jeanine says
I am a very single disabled mom. I afford a bedroom in the livingroom on the couch for some yearsssss now. I let my two children know that “having your own room is a privilege not a RIGHT”! –> so clean it. Period. Or you could lose your valuable space. You have to work at anything in life to get paid or achieve anything, so I apply that to their bedroom.