Charles and I just can't get Aidan to clean up his toys. He'll clean for maybe 2 minutes and then we turn around and he's just playing with them again. We really want him to be able to clean up all of his mess on his own. Today I tried something new. I put up the baby gates with me and Dylan in the messy room and told Aidan he wasnt allowed in the room with us. If he didn't clean the room, he couldn't be in the room. He didn't like that much. He kept just looking in at us and trying to talk to us but we ignored him. Finally he told me "Mommy I'll clean! I'll clean the room up!" So I let him in. He started cleaning right away..for about 2 minutes again and then started playing! Ugh! I hate to think of starting to take toys away since Charles and I... and lots of family... paid good money for all these toys that they have. I want them to be used and not just put away in the garage. But really... do I have much of a choice anymore?
Oh and lets not forget Aidan's birthday is coming up in July. More toys.
P.S. Family and friends: Outdoor toys would be perfect birthday gifts! :P
When they are that little I'd suggest a one toy at a time rule. When they want to check out a new toy they need to check in the one they had, all the bits and pieces included. We usually keep all the toys with the smaller pieces up high. The more and smaller the pieces the higher they seem to go :P Im not very good at enforcing this rule here though except for the toys with the lots of small pieces (for Sophie's sake). I usually just end up picking most of it up myself at the end of the day :o) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried making it a game? My mom used to do that with me. She'd tell me to pick up 2 blue items. Then 4 things that were round. That way they are also learning and playing, along with the cleaning. I used to love it!
ReplyDeleteseperate them into categories. in different piles, baskets, or bins. let him play with one of those bins at a time and tell him he cant play with another bin until he puts the other one away. see how that works. before going to bed tell him its "clean up" time. if he doesnt clean up b4 bedtime tell him he wont be able to play 2morrow....sometimes it works...sometimes it wont...thats what i di with jeremy...now its jacobs turn...
ReplyDeleteLoni- Putting the toys with a lot of pieces up high is a great idea. One I will start... once the toys are allowed back in the house :P Yes I finally grabbed an empty tub and put all the toys in there and took it out to the garage. Aidan had no problem watching me take the toys away and clean up his mess.
ReplyDeleteErin- See what he's picking up the blocks with? That's his game. And it works...until he likes it so much that when he finishes he empty's it all back on the ground to start over...until he doesn't want to do it anymore and just walks away lol. I'd love for him to clean while I'm cleaning other parts of the house so always making it a game or fun is hard. But more so when he's smart enough to realize its cleaning no matter what his mommy says or does to make him think otherwise lol
Liz- All his toys are separated in different bins. But all of his toys are in his reach too. So he can just grab at what he wants when he wants. Plus Dylan is a problem to. A big part of the problem. Sometimes Aidan does clean and Dylan will run through and mess up what he did. Aidan then screams and cries and gets frustrated at the whole thing.
My biggest problem is my kid just won't listen to me. Charles says I need to be meaner to them. Let them know I mean what I say. But I do think I'm being mean. But for some reason they brush it off (or in Dylan's case start smiling and giggling)
I thought it was great that the kids could always get to their toys...but now I think that's the biggest problem. So putting toys up high is the next step! Thanks for the advice everyone!