Help, My Six Year Old Is Driving Me Crazy!!!

OMG she is only 6. My 12 year old does that still although my 7 year old has never done that. Just different personalities.
Sounds like she has too much stuff to manage. Perhaps her room needs to be decluttered.
I put bins under my daughters's bed so stuff can no longer accumulate there. The thing that seemed to be most effective though was to tell her she has 15 minutes to clean her room (depending on how messy it was) then go in with a bag and clean up any messes I saw. She then would have to earn back whatever was in the bag by doing a chore. I stopped doing this when she was about 10 yrs old though and finally at almost 13 she can clean her room independently.

Oh my goodness! I can tell by your post that this makes you very upset. It’s hard for me to relate because I never got angry about this K. of stuff. My kids are excellent in school, have good manners, are well behaved and rarely ever complain.

My 13 y/o DD started to care more about her room at about age 9, but I never punished her when she would shove her clothes behind her door. She was busy with school, sports, church groups, family time, etc. Much more important stuff!

Anyway, she just grew out of that stage with guidance from me and DH. Plus, she is starting to mimic me in how organized and neat I keep everything.

My DS is naturally neat and organized with his room and play room, but again I wouldn’t get real angry if he wasn’t. I would be confident that he would outgrow it because he would eventually learn from me and DH, and the constant reminders.

Help your little girl and eventually she WILL catch on. The punishments obviously are not working so time to try something new =-)

Wow, she's 6. Give her less "stuff" to take better care of. It sounds like she may be overwhelmed by stuff and by your expectations.

I live in a one-bedroom apartment with my 8 year-old daughter and after three years here, we have a bit too much stuff for our space. It can become overwhelming, even for me. If I was six, I would stuff things under the bed and in the closet...wait...I DO stuff things under the bed and into the closet! And the bed is hardly ever made!

It sounds like she could use your help in significantly reducing the amount of stuff she has in her room. Then, I would suggest starting with a smaller number of chores that are her's alone. The other chores are her's with help from you. Gradually, as she can handle them and is getting older, her chore list can grow.

My 11 year old is like that. She "cleans" by shoving things in her closet, under her futon, and in various other boxes, drawers, and spaces. She's just not naturally organized. I have made a decision to forgo yelling, threats, and punishments. So . . . . I let her suffer the natural consequences. She loses things, (like earrings, shoes, gloves and pajama tops, etc etc) and she doesn't get more clothes or more stuff until I see that she takes better care of what she has. She doesn't have a comfortable clean, private area to entertain her friends. She isn't allowed food anyplace but the dining room table. And she isn't allowed a sleepover, unless planned in advance, and room is picked up, cleaned, and inspected.

Whatever you find crammed under the bed, just remove it, put it in a big bag or box, and stash it away somewhere. When she starts wondering where all her stuff has gone, tell her it got taken away because it does not belong under her bed. Then work with her at decluttering her room and making it easier for her to manage what she has. Go through her things and decide what can stay and what should go. At 6 years old, she may still need your help. And with Christmas coming up, she could also be really distracted. But remind her that if you keep finding stuff where it does not belong, it will disappear and she may need to earn it back.

I remember being 6. I was quite the hoarder, and had collections of everything. I also was sentimentally attached to all my toys, drawings, cards, etc. I was not able to clean my room on my own at that age. (I am now a very neat, clean type of person).

At that age, my mom would have to come help me. That is what I do with my 5 year old if there is a huge mess, because sometimes it is so overwhelming she doesn't even know where to begin. I find it is helpful for me to go in and give her directions, such as "You are in charge of putting all your Barbie stuff in this bin" then once that is done I give her the next direction. I also help her decide what toys go in storage for a while. I will ask what her best drawing is and she can keep it on her wall or in her art kit. The rest go in garbage. It also helps to have a "memory box" of some K., because the kids will have a lot of school art projects that they don;t want to throw away, so I will pick out the best ones and put them in the Memory Box in the storage room.

So, for big complicated messes, I help. My kids (5 and 7) do a lot of household jobs on their own but they have to be simply stated (ie: take trash out to dumpster, put away underwear, put away silverware, etc).

I have a 7 yo son who keeps EVERYTHING! And he's very disorganized. You're not alone. They are still little, though, and they are not going to keep spotless rooms. I give him a few tasks & then I tackle most when he's at school.

I have noticed a big difference in my son lately because of all the excitement of Christmas. He is usually a very good kid but lately he has found another personality. Age six is a little young to be expecting a lot from. She is just noticing the world around her and trying to figure out what she likes and doesn't. Give her a few chores and teach her to do them well. Too many things will confuse her tender mind. Remember that kids learn a lot from being reminded a lot and eventually it will form a habit. Don't sweat the small stuff because there will be a lot of things that just leave you speechless down the road.