Community› The Bump Message Boards› Toddlers: 24 Months+
Toddlers: 24 Months+
New Discussion

I stink at making my kids clean up...

groovygrlgroovygrl member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+

I admit it, I'd rather clean up toys myself than go through the daily process of attempting to get them to clean up... DD will go along w/ it like a game or if we sing a clean up song but DS is so trying...he will pick up one or 2 pieces of something and then walk away, and I just can't stand the over & over come back & pick this up, come on let's do this puzzle and clean it up, help me put xyz back in the box/container... it takes 20 min to clean up what would take me 5...but I know I need to teach them to do it themselves... THeir playroom is on our first floor & I cannot see it unless I go in there so I let it get destroyed but I do clean up our family room/kitchen every evening, most of the time it really doesnt get that bad, I put everything in a basket or a few things back in the boxes/bags they came out of...

I need advice about how to start (realistically b/c like I said, it takes FOREVER and is a struggle as is so I can't go from almost nothing to 100%) but also would love to hear that I'm not alone in not enforcing this as often as I should :)? I talked to my mom about it and she said she definitely remembers hating trying to get us to clean up (esp my brother) so that made me feel a little better...

 

Report Reply to Post

Re: I stink at making my kids clean up...

  • LoveEeyoreLoveEeyore member

    I do it twice a day so there's less, and I do it right before something they're looking forward to (a.m.- getting out of the house, and p.m.- before "last show" and snack).

    I also started by putting the basket in the middle of the room and told them to get everything off the floor (I also use it to work on some of son's speech soounds- pick up a toy and do a silly song to emphasize sounds and then slam dunk into the basket- the Hello Kitty Rap is a fave here).  Then, once that was easy, I addded the requisite that if they found clothes on the floor, those go to the laundry room, then everything else goes in the basket.  Then added trash.  My goal is to eliminate the basket and they just pick up stuff and put it away, but baby steps!

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • MNgirl326MNgirl326 member

    I taught LO by making part of the clean up the actual play.  So if we were playing with blocks, part of our play time was putting the blocks back in the container.  And yes, at first I had to put the majority of the them in the container while LO only put one or two but after awhile he got the hang of it and does more of it now. 

    Also, in the beginning i was really careful not to take out too many toys to ovewhelm him.   Only one type of toy at at time, kind of thing.   And everything is organized into its own container. 

    The biggest thing is LO is really in the "helper" phase.  He loves to help me do anything, so I have grabbed onto that and I use it for clean up time as well. 

    Is it perfect everyday? No.  There are many days that LO goes to bed and there are still toys to clean up whcih I do myself. But he is working on it. 

     

    image 

    A kiss he will never forget- Disney World 2014

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

     

    Pregnancy Ticker

      
    Report Reply
  • clojelclojel member

    We clean up just once - at the end of the night.  I give her a bath, we brush teeth, comb hair and then our last "job" is to clean up the playroom - and then she knows we can settle in and watch one show before its bedtime.  What I do is I will pick something for her to clean up -- like, pick up all the books on the floor, or put all the puzzles back on the shelf, etc... -- and i will go about cleaning up other stuff while she works on that project.  If she finishes, I will assign her another thing until its done.

    I find giving her a specific task/item to clean up works ALOT better than just a general instruction to "clean up".  I still do the majority of the work, but she does more and more of it as she gets older, and she at least understands the concept that she has to clean up after herself. 

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
    Report Reply
  • KadyraKadyra member
    DS's toys are in our living room. Every night around 715 we make him clean them up. He finishes between 745 and 8 after a lot of encouragement. If he refuses, he gets time out. If he refuses, we start throwing toys away-- usually the crap that comes in happy meals-- and that motivates him. It's annoying and takes forever, but I have other things I need to be doing around the house. We figure if we don't enforce this now, he will end up like our 5 year old nephew and still not put his crap away. We had him for a week in April and he looked at us like we were nuts when we told him to clean up. He did. We told him if he didn't, he wouldn't be playing with any more toys. And we meant it. 
    Photobucket Lilypie Premature Baby tickers Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
    Report Reply
  • StrawberryAlarmClockStrawberryAlarmClock member

    DS loves the number 5. If he puts his toys away, he gets a 5 stamp on his hand. If Mommy puts them away, Mommy gets the stamp. It's worked so far but he's only 2. I'm sure it'll lose it's pizazz sooner or later. 

     

    Lilypie Second Birthday tickers Lilypie Maternity tickers ***This space reserved for photo of new squish***
    Report Reply
  • msmriskmsmrisk member

    All great responses! DS just turned 3 and is fairly good with cleanups. He's in a helper phase as well. We try a run through of the house 1 time a day. (More if its deep cleaning, etc). I tell him the room is getting vacuumed and he better pick up before the vacuum wants a snack LOL. I have threatened throwing toys away- I've put a few in a plastic bag and in the trash, then get em out later which he has to earn back from the 'trash man'. I try not to be too strict, but I don't want him to be a messy guy in later years.

    Now, if I could just figure out a good toy organization system, that would make cleanups even easier, Id be happy :)

    AlternaTickers - Cool, free Web tickers
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"