Lots of folks in the comments perplexed by the kids' behavior here as if it's not perfectly rational from a child's point of view.
A six and a four year old probably don't have an adult's understanding of what counts as a "clean" room to the standards of their parent. When given a task like this, how many kids end up guessing what's wanted of them, then getting scolded when they fail a standard they didn't understand?
Maybe a kid is told for the first time to "put your toys away" when a parent steps on one, so they think "cleaning up" means pushing the toys out of the way of where people walk, or putting them up on a table, then gets scolded because the toys being visible at all doesn't count as "away." Kid puts their toys in the closet, then gets scolded for not making their bed. Kid makes the bed, then gets scolded because there's dust on the dresser. The parent gets increasingly annoyed that their child doesn't finish the task to their standards and acts as if the problem is laziness. The child ends up frustrated and learns that chores are a no-win situation with ambiguous rules. Of course digging a hole is simple and straightforward in comparison! Especially if you take as given the assumption that any effort you put into cleaning will be inadequate anyway!
Like, c'mon, at that age, they still need to be taught the process of cleaning, which means their mom shouldn't be telling them to clean their room (much less threatening, bluff or not). She should be enlisting their help to clean their room, teaching the process through demonstration and giving age-appropriate tasks. Children learn best through imitation, not from threats and scolding!
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