Help Your Child to Clean up the Mess in the Room “using the Mountain Method”
“Ok, mom, my room is clean!”
Before you even see the finished product, you know that your child’s room is definitely not clean. And of course, when you stick your head in the door, you’ll see the same thing you always see after they supposedly cleaned up their room: a large clean spot in the center of the floor and a perimeter strewn with random Lego debris, random scraps papers, crayons, socks and a lot of other unidentified rubbish.
You can also see if you bend over that the spaces under their bed, dresser, and table are just as messy.
Can’t they see it?
Oh yeah, they definitely see it because they put it there. The problem is, this scattered mess is overwhelming to their eyes, and they have no idea where to start. But I have a trick to help your child clean their room – really clean their room – including the abandoned perimeter and under the furniture.
While it may seem intimidating at first, the mountain method is the most effective method I have come up with to encourage my kids to clean their rooms on their own.
Create stack
We start the cleaning process by first scrubbing all the clutter and debris from the walls and from under beds, dressers and tables, and stacking it all uphill right in the center of the room.
No matter how inappropriate and confused the toys are in this pile, the point here is to put everything in one place. What I found with my kids is that they just couldn’t make sense of the many disturbances scattered throughout the room. It was too, too overwhelming. The accumulation of everything uphill gave them a place to start and one single mess to deal with.
Start sorting
Then it’s time to sort. We put a garbage bag next to it, as well as a donation box. This is important – if your child cannot find space for a particular item, the next option is to either donate or throw it away. Of course, you’ll want to make sure they actually have a place to put their stuff (we use plastic containers for everything from Lego to doll clothes) so they don’t give up and throw everything in the trash. In the beginning, I really had to help my children make a choice between postponing, giving or throwing away, but now they understand it well.
The mining method is also great for cluttered dresser countertops and work tables. For example, remove everything from the top of the dresser and place it right in the middle of the floor. Wipe down the dresser and then ask your child to replace only what he really wants to be displayed on the dresser. Any remaining items are removed, given away, or discarded.
When we first started using the mountain method, my kids both whined and fought – this mountain looked like so much work! – but then they both admitted that it sped up the cleaning process and made the room much cleaner than when they used to poke around aimlessly for hours on end. Not to mention, watching this pile shrink and end up with a truly clean room is incredibly satisfying.