DCB Who Refuses to Clean

[sahm2three]

He will make it LOOK like he is cleaning, but never puts anything actually away. The other kids are getting really tired of cleaning up after him. So today, he sat in timeout, and is not allowed to play with toys for the afternoon (he can look at books) and then when the OTHER kids are done playing, HE gets to clean up after THEM! Harsh? Maybe, but life is harsh, and you can't expect everyone else to carry you thru life, right?

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

if I have one of those,.. and we all do every now and again, I let the other kids sit on the couch or color at the table, or have a snack while they clean......

[kitkat]

if I have one of those,.. and we all do every now and again, I let the other kids sit on the couch or color at the table, or have a snack while they clean......

I do the same thing. Another thing I do is make piles, especially if suddenly lots of toys are out and I need them to hurry up...X here is your pile, Y here is yours, Z here is yours.

[DBug]

I do the same thing. Another thing I do is make piles, especially if suddenly lots of toys are out and I need them to hurry up...X here is your pile, Y here is yours, Z here is yours.

... you can also assign specific toys (blocks for kid A, trains for kid B, etc), and they get to stop cleaning when they're done putting away their assigned toys. Yes, I do get the "But I didn't play with that!", but in my house the rule is that we all clean up everything, no matter who played with what.

[Lilbutterflie]

Occasionally I will set the timer & give them a piece of candy if they finish cleaning up before the timer goes off. However, if I notice one of them did not do any of the cleaning, everyone else will get a treat except them. That will usually do the trick for the next time!!

[countrymom]

I have 2 boys that are like this, drives me nuts. But then I look at their homes and I understand, they don't even do it at home so trying to make them do it here is so hard.

[Childminder]

You can bet the child never has to pick up at home

When we have trouble with cleaning up. They all sit in the hall and each child one at a time has to go in the toy room and pick up ten toys. Helps them with counting and the toys are put away properly. Sometimes we pair up youngest with oldest so the bigger children help the babies. We might have to do it a couple of days and then they're good for awhile.

[Abigail]

We have the same problem with a "slower" 4 year old boy. We don't require the little little kids to pick up, but encourage them. Most of the time te 2 year old just sit and watch, or else we'll intervene so they stop making a mess during clean up times. This particular 4 year old boy never cleans and just screams for his blanket (it's not allowed until nap time) or he screams for a certain toy truck. I just let it slide and tell him "Now is clean up time and you must help" and I'll continue on as if he is 2 again and say "See that Mr. Potato Head part there? Will you bring him back to his family?" etc. and sometimes it works. The other provider just talks LOUDLY to him saying "You NEVER clean, you need to clean!!" and it just doesn't get results. Any advice would be nice too! Thanks