Nothing is more frustrating than stepping into a teen’s room, only to find it messy to the extent of looking like a tornado ripped through it. Getting the kids to put the room in order is indeed a steep challenge because there’s a fat chance of finding your offspring on the same page as you when it comes to cleanliness. However, many parents have succeeded in inculcating the habit of cleaning the room and taking care of their stuff in teens. Learning how to clean a teenager’s room, or in fact getting the latter to do it himself/herself requires you to know what buttons to push.

Stamp your authority

Sometimes, you just need to put your foot down and remind your teen that you’re the parent and while they are living with you in your house, they need to respect your authority and do things your way. Tell them firmly that you want their room cleaned or else prepare themselves for the consequences, which may range from losing digital privileges to the cancellation of a family vacation that they’ve been looking forward to for a long time. Make sure you’ve lectured them on how do you clean your room, communicating the cleanliness standards to them clearly.

Threaten to clean their room yourself

Privacy is of just as much value to teens as it is to you. Use this to your advantage by giving them an ultimatum that if they don’t get down to cleaning their room right away, you’ll do it yourself. Add to that anything you deem as unimportant, including magazines, unidentifiable DVDs, etc goes into the trash can. This is likely to bring up a red flag for your child and compel him to act quickly, lest you start going through their stuff and throw away something that is precious to them.

Give them an incentive

Reward is a strong motivational force, one that may even get your teens to finally listen to you and do something about the mess in their room. Tell them that you’ll be coming in for an inspection after a specified time and if they’ve put their room in order by then, then you’ll show your appreciation by giving them something really special. In most cases, revealing the reward in advance can offer a stronger motivation.

Leave a ransom note

You may have heard about kindergarten teachers disciplining kids by taking away their favorite toy when they misbehave. A similar technique may work on your teens as well. Determine what it is that they simply can’t live without. This may be their cell phone, their tablet, a gaming console, or maybe even the television in their room. Take that thing and leave a ransom note behind, telling them clearly why that particular item has been confiscated and what they need to do in order to get it back.

Teens generally assume complete ownership of their room and therefore are rarely happy about parents invading what they consider their personal space. Therefore, be mentally prepared to experience sulking, tears and tantrums when you’re trying to get them to do the cleaning. You need not worry though, since the resistance put on by your teen would gradually subside with time before eventually disappearing completely.