How to Get a Teenager to Clean Up a Messy Room

If you want to get a teenager to clean up a messy room then the worst thing to do is shut the door and ignore the problem. The room will just get messier and messier. In fact if you do that the problem could get so large that the kid will never attempt to clean up. As a parent it is your job to get them to clean it up and organize it.

The first thing you should do is try and reason with your child. Don't nag him or her but ask him calmly and quietly why cleaning the room up is such a problem. Ask them what the problem is when it comes to cleaning up the room.

After talking, help them assess the room and find out if they need shelves on which to store their music or other knick knacks. If your kid is a teen there might be a lot of make up around. Be clever about what you can store things in. Old cups and bowls can be used to store items. You can also use plastic tubs. Old boxes and shoe boxes can be good free storage containers for smaller items as well.

You can put smaller boxes inside drawers to help the teen stay organized as well. Get organizers with shelves and label the drawers and organizers so they know where to put things each time they clean.

One way to encourage them to get the room looking clean is to have them try to get all surfaces clean. This gets them out of the habit of cluttering up surfaces all of the time.

Kids that have messy rooms sometimes do not have the basics. They will need a place to store pencils, pens, calculators, rulers, art supplies and glue. Plastic tackle boxes and plastic work boxes can also help a disorganized teen keep things straight.

To help reduce the amount of trash that might be lying around make sure that you place trash baskets in strategic spots and designate a day when they must take out their own trash. Keep a tote basket full of the cleaning supplies he or she will need to keep their bedroom upstairs pristine. This prevents them from experiencing'the drat' of searching downstairs for the things that they need.

Once your child does master keeping the room clean then praise him or her so that they keep on doing it again and again. Reward them with movie tickets or something else they might prize to keep the motivation there in their heads.

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Choosing a Preschool Backpack for Your Kid

The best thing to do when shopping for a preschool backpack for your kid is bring the kid along! This can help you make sure it fits. You want to make sure that the straps fit and that you are buying the smallets size of back pack that can still fit all of your child's stuff in it.

In fact, it does help you if you know what is going to go in it before you start shopping. Your backpack should be able to hold binders, a packed lunch, cold-weather gear, homework, change of clothes, lunches, drinks and whatever. Of course the needs for this will be different from child to child. You will be amazed at how these tiny little bags can hold so much one day.

As these are for very young children you need to make sure that they are not too complex. Choose ones with one or two smaller pockets and Velcro might be a better choice for a fastener than a zipper for some kids. The less pockets there are the better life is going to be for a small tyke who may find searching through a lot of pockets hard to mange.

It is also a good idea to get a waterproof backpack as many kids have the habit of dropping them in a puddle without even meaning too.

To personalize it put a tag on it that helps you and anyone else looking definitely identifies the backpack. You make your own tag, repurpose and existing tag or purchase a new laminated one. Some stores sell them ready made in different child's names. You can also custom order existing luggage tags from online monogram shops. One that is very popular is on Etsy.com and is called your monogram… You simply choose the font, colors and size that you want and they mail you the completed tag.

However it is not that hard to design one yourself cut it out and make your own tag. You simply purchase the laminate sleeves at Walmart or Giant Tiger or some place similar and then stick your homemade laminate card inside it. This is very easy to do using a rudimentary Word word processing program.

Finally make an effort to get a school bag in a color that helps you distninguish it from the rest in the class. One that looks like all the rest of the backpacks is most likely to get stolen.

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