Do your kids clean up their toys when they are done playing?

My dd 8 and dd 4 cry and complain when they have to clean anything. As a working mother I get so tired and give up on the battle a lot. My dh is out of town often so I usual can't count on him during the week. I want my children to respect and understand we work hard for what we have.

Any suggestions for getting children to clean and take care of their belongings?

My son is a little too young to clean up his toys. Although today I gave him a ziploc bag with some trash in it (sealed) I told him to throw it in the trash and he did. Well he missed but it was right by the trash. I have known people who will take away or throw away toys that don't get picked up. I can understand the taking away but not the throwing away unless its a happy meal toy or something cheap like that.

Since your kids are rather young, I'd try the reward system. Honestly, they're both old enough to clean up...if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't allow play time until they learned to do their part. It sounds like you have enough on your plate! I think our children need to know they should be responsible for helping, even if just a little bit. Of course, things should be age appropriate.

I started doing this with one of my younger sisters when we were little, she wouldn't pick up anything!!! These are a few suggests that I started long ago and do with my kids today.

First idea, set a timer and make it a game of how many toys one person at a time can pick up. Just don't write down scores...make it a "If you had fun, You Won!" kind of a deal.

Second, take turns counting the toys picked up. Ex: I pick up a toy, put it away, and I get to say "One.". The next person's turn they get to say "two"...and so forth.

Third, have different "work station" planned out. They could be corners of the room or just specific areas. Everyone cleans up at their "station" for one minute, and then everyone switches stations and works at the rotated station for another minute and so on. Before you know it, it will be all done!

Rotate these ideas often and let your kids make up some cleaning games too, and you won't know what's gotten into your kids who now LOVE to clean!!!

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"The best things in life are not things." ~Unknown
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They're pretty good about it and if it gets bad...I just help. I can't imagine how overwhelmed they must be at times if *I* am overwhelmed. We make quick work of it and it's really just not a big deal in our house.

I know for me, I pick up stuff, all over the house...just all day long because I can't stand to have stuff lying around or cluttering things up. So this is the type of house my kids have grown up in, so I think that is partly why they do pick up their things.

Your kids are pretty young...why don't you start having them tidy up their rooms each afternoon? You can use a timer or a fun song or something and I think it helps if the parent gets involved. They'll get the hang of it.

I saw how many problems that my sisters had with their kids on this and I've tried to start ds out young on picking up after himself.

At 22 months he knows that before we leave the house, before nap time and before beditme we have to pick everything up and put it away. Everything has it's place and he knows where it goes and if you put something where it doesn't belong he gets upset and puts it where it goes. - This doesn't always work (like if he's really tired and throwing a fit!) I do get down and help him, I don't order him around but I do a lot of "When you put this away we can do this (take a walk, go outside, have our snack)"

I'm hoping that this will continue because I too work outside the home and it's hard to keep up with everything.

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Making games out it always works, and giving them specific tasks helps as well..For example, my three year old's toys are somewhat organized, and so I'll ask him to maybe put his cars back in their bin, or the same with his train stuff, or to bring all of his toys in the living room back to his room, etc...

And a lot of encouraging, as soon as I see him picking up, there are a lot of "Good Job! What a great helper!" 's.

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas! I'll give them a try.

Try 10 minute pick ups. I have my daughter do at least a 10 minute pick up of her room each day and at least once a week I insist she does a really good job. Her room might not look perfect all of the time but how many of us can claim a perfectly clean house.

Jen

It really bothers me when the kids get something out before cleaning up the first thing. And this happens all of the time unless I am with them or catch them. I know it shouldn't bother me as long as they clean everything when I say, but it still bothers me.

My oldest plays this game with the kids and it really helps clean up time. She calls out a color and everyone cleans up that color. After they get it all, she calls out another color. We try to get it done in under fifteen minutes and if they do I reward them. Sometimes the reward is a hug and kiss. Sometimes I give them a small peice of candy (like one bottle cap or sweet tart-my dad buys the big boxes of them and give them to the kids when mom yells at him for buying them oh well makes good rewards for me).

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Jenifer
Proud wife to one amazing man
Proud mom to four awesome kids

Have a safe and blessed New Year!