Mom shares ingenious and slightly unconventional hack for making teens clean their room

It's a universal truth that every teenager's room is inevitably a mess. No matter how many times parents implore their offspring to tidy up, it seems like the chaos only multiplies. From crumbs strewn across the floor to greasy gaming consoles, from mountains of unwashed clothes to an assortment of toys and makeup brushes, the bedroom of a typical teenager is a sight to behold. Unless you happen to have a particularly organized teen under your roof, it's a challenge that every parent must endure.

Parents are busy and tired as it is, and the last thing they want to do is nag their children to clean their rooms or clean up after themselves. There are several ways to get a teen to clean their room, and one TikTok mom—who goes by @krisreneeauthor on TikTok—has shared the ultimate hack to motivate your kids to clean their rooms.

Kris Renee, a mom of eight, went viral on social media after spilling the beans about her family system for keeping each kid’s room clean. She admits that the method can be triggering for others as it is an out-of-the-box hack from conventional parenting, but it works like a charm for her family.

“When my children become teenagers, and they are of the age that they get to do the fun things like get a driver's license, and get a car, and get their first job, and join the after-school clubs and activities and do all of the things flitting around town, living their best life, in our home that also means that you have leveled up your responsibility for yourself, for your person, for your possessions, and your space,” she says in the video.

Renee then breaks down the stages she follows for motivating her kids to clean their rooms at a given time and schedule. “When I notice that their rooms are getting out of control, I let them know, ‘Your room needs to be cleaned,’” she explained. “I don’t give each one a specific time frame because it’s different for the child. It depends on what their after-school activities are, what their evenings look like, it might be three days, might be five days, might be seven days, but I give them a fair amount of time to get the job done.” When the allotted time frame is up for her kids, Renee puts them on a 24-hour notice, meaning if they do not clean within 24 hours, she will then take over. However, that will come with a cost.

“I clean. I organize. I dust. I vacuum. I wash their sheets. You know, I just give them a fresh restart, simple as that,” she shared. “But, once I’m finished with that, I make an itemized list of all the services rendered and how much time it took me to perform said services and I present them with the bill in which they are expected and responsible for paying me for my time and my effort."

Renee said that the thought of having to pay their mom to clean their room is enough to make her kids do it themselves.“Two of my teenagers have had to do this and once my younger teenagers have watched their older siblings go through it, they’re like, ‘Yeah, no thanks. I’m just going to handle my stuff,’” she revealed.

Renee noted that this allowed her kids to learn the importance of managing their personal space. “It teaches them about time management. It teaches them about responsibilities. It teaches them about expectations. It teaches them about the real world. And it only has to happen one time and then they do what they need to do,” she concluded.

The video urged many parents to do the same in their house and many applauded Renee for such a creative hack. "I love this because it is preparing for adulthood: the options are doing it yourself or hiring help!" said @kellyisalright. "This is interesting! Thanks for the perspective. I was concerned it was going somewhere punitive at first but I like this," wrote @cockapooped. "I am going to show my hubby this. I think this is something really important and we are missing the opportunity to teach him," added @concussedcreations.

Watch the full video here: