When my boys were little, I didn’t think it was important that they learn to tidy up their rooms on their own. As long as they helped a little, I was fine with that.

But that all changed when they were 8 and 5, and got big into Legos. Boy, did it hurt to step on those barefoot!

Our days became a struggle between the embarrassment I felt at how bad the home looked, and trying to motivate the boys to pick up their own messes. I'm sure it came across as nagging. And I never wanted to be a nag, I wanted to be the fun mom!

It was very important to me that the boys learn how to tidy up their rooms fast so we would have more time to enjoy as a family.

Enjoyment was my motivation because I have a fire element type personality. I love social events and having dinner parties. Not being able to have people over was a big drain on me.

For other moms, it's different. Some moms want to keep the house clean because "it's the right thing to do." Other moms feel they can't be productive unless the home is tidy.

How you feel depends on your personality type, and how you try to get your kids to clean up their rooms is closely associated with this too. I've written a super cool article about how personality types influence the way moms feel about their homes and how messes, especially messes in their kids' rooms, affect them.