So, in our home we have a "Toy Monster." This is the bin I put toys in that I have to pick up or the children don't put away and/or take care of.... I now have TWO BIG bins that are overflowing.
I have tried to make them earn the toys back by paying me money out of their piggy bank or doing a chore. It is not working. They still aren't learning that they need to pick up their toys when they are not playing with them (am I expecting too much?) or the value of money and their toys etc. The chore thing, I'm afraid by doing this they're going to associate chores badly. What think ya'll? Do you have any ideas or things you do that might work better for our family?
I don't think they have too many toys. It just seems they don't care. I've debated giving the toys that I collect away and I've discussed this option with the boys but I'm not ready to go that drastic yet.
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I am not much of a neat freak. My house is not the cleanest, so maybe my thoughts aren't what you want to hear. I don't have all the toys we own accessible. Some are packed away. The ones we do have out are messy ones (blocks, legos, tinker toys, lincoln logs, doll clothes, kitchen, etc.). We don't clean the toys up throughout the day. Most of the toys stay in the "toy room." They are strewn all over the floor, especially the legos, which are Brady's current obsession. At night before stories and bedtime, all the toys have to be cleaned up. I will help. If they don't help, I clean them all up into a garbage bag and put them out of reach for a few days. When I don't want to clean 1,000 legos up, I push them into a pile and just tell the kids they can clean them up or I can do it my way. They know that means the garbage bag, so they usually get right to it. If they don't, I don't have to deal with those toys for a few days.
ReplyDeleteI also have a bag of toys I have "monstered" We tried earning toys back with extra chores etc. It worked for a while but once they got enough of their favorites back it lost the appeal and clean up again became a pain. We are working on a major clean out of clutter we'll see if this helps and let you know.
ReplyDeleteBut here is my question: What about clothes? I've tried keeping the kid's clothes downstairs and different organization techniques. I really want them to learn to care for their own clothes. Any ideas on getting dirty clothes to the hamper, and not the drawers? And not having clothing strewn about the bedrooms?
I agree with Lou Anne. I only take the toys away for a certain amount of time. You could try a day for every year old they are. This way you are not using chores to earn them back. Honestly I think my kids would rather find another toy to play with than do a chore to play with a certain one that got taken away. I also think it's really good to help them clean them up. I don't know about your kids but mine seem to get overwhelmed quite easily. So I give them specific jobs like first clean up all the legos. Then I have someone else clean up all the doll clothes and so forth until it's all put away.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really don't know what to say about the clothes. We have always taught our kids from the time they could walk to put their dirty clothes in the hamper and I've never had a problem. Now if I could just get my husband to do the same.... :D