Ok for those of you that have kids or work with them I need advice!!!

I am going crazy here.My kids are slobs,whats can I do to show my kids that I am tired of picking up after them and that they should do it all the time themselves.Because like yesterday I spent a lot of time cleaning up my house and them came home after thier after school events and with in a hour my house was trashed yet again with them and thier friends coming in and out all the time grabbing something to eat or drink or just to mess around.So before I could go to bed I had to clean up the house again,I feel like I am just going to explode. I am sick and tired of doing this everyday!Now my son is 13 and my daughter is 8 and they are both capable of doing things for themselves.Now what can I do to make them believe me and show them that I am serious!!!Advice needed please!!! Candi

Hi Candi, I'm new to this so I hope I'm doing this right. I tell my kids that they have the option to pick it up or I will. If I pick it up they don't get it back for quite some time or some times not at all. It just depends on what it is. After doing this a while and being very consistent with it, they will help pick up a lot more or have nothing left to be picked up. I hope that this helps you out. Karen

My 8 year old daughter is bad about getting her stuff out and not putting it back away. I have told her on many occasions that she can pick it up and put it where it belongs or I will and if I do it, it gets thrown away. Now I have to say the first time I actually did this, I did not throw it away I put it in an area of the garage that she would not see it. She did not even miss the stuff. I have also told her no friends over if her stuff is not picked up. This morning her room is trashed yet again and i told her I was going to clean it up and throw more stuff away. Her response to me, "Go ahead, the last couple of times you did that I have not even missed the stuff you threw away, so I really did not need it anyway." So now I going to have to do something different.

Hi Candi! Throw the stuff in the garbage...outside. Also take something that they value. Give it back when they get their act together. May sound cruel but it worked on me when I was a kid. Wonka D