Yesterday I took control of a situation that has been really bothering me for quite some time. Getting my home clean and keeping it that way has been virtually impossible. I have two wonderful, bright, and VERY creative children. An important part of creativity and imagination, as I have learned, is to make the absolute biggest mess you can by getting out EVERY TOY, CRAYON, MARKER, SCRAP OF PAPER, AND BOOK in the whole house. It is usually best to do this at a VERY rapid pace if you happen to notice that mom is trying to clean.
The idea came to me a couple of days ago after I spent an entire HOUR after the kids were in bed just putting things away. I'm not talking about vacuuming, dusting, or wiping things down; no, simply picking things up, and putting them in their homes. Though I had the idea a few days ago, I had to work up the courage to carry it out, as I was unsure how the kids would take it.
I decided that we would have a Toy Library. Only a select few toys were left, and the rest went to the attic. Actually, that's a slight exaggeration, as I filled my car trunk with things for the Goodwill, but let's just keep that between you and me. I worked on this project for hours yesterday. The kids were home the whole time, but didn't even take notice. Then, when I was done, they started noticing things.
"Where are the toys, Mom?"
"All the toys are upstairs in the playroom."
"But, Mom, where are my army guys?"
"Well, they are in the attic in our new Toy Library."
"But, Mom, I want to play with them."
"Well, I left lots of toys for you to play with, if you don't like what I left, you can "return" them to the Library, and "check out" new toys."
How did it go, you ask? VERY WELL. Ben immediately jumped on board, gathering toys that he'd rather "return" and even coming up with three of his own donations for the Goodwill! Then, we took his "returns" up to the attic, and he "checked out" his army guys and some HotWheels.
I also let them know that any toys left out when they go to bed will be returned to the library. I had to pick up NO TOYS last night!! I even took a few minutes to read a book to myself in my orderly living room!
I hope it lasts, but I am encouraged that I met with absolutely no resistance from the kids.
Family pic 2020
2 months ago
14 comments:
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC IDEA!! I think I will consider how I can adapt that for our family.
Oh, and I'm thrilled for you that it went so well with your kids getting on board!!
Brilliant! If only we had an attic... I'll have to think this one through! Any ideas on how to get a 15 mo old on board?
Gosh, this would have made my life soooooooooooooo much easier eons ago. You were indeed inspired. Cindy
Awesome and Amazing! I can't wait until my kids can understand that.
SUCH a good idea!
And also, I am jealous that you have an attic.
And one more thing: I think you should not have fines at your library. I hate fines.
Brillant! Absolutely brillant. I think that idea is marketable. Love you, mom m.
I do something sorta like this. We have a lot of toys in the basement, and whenever they want something from the basement, I make them take something down to exchange. However, I like your idea of taking whatever they leave out at night back to the "library".
Current problem: the basement is a disaster. Toys everywhere.
I really like this idea. A lot of my mess, however, seems to be things that wouldn't qualify as toys. My kids seem to like to play with things like tissues, rocks, pencils, and spoons and forks. It will take me 5 minutes to pick up toys, but 45 minutes to pick up the rest of the mess. Do you think I could have them check out the spoons?
Love it! And you wondered where they got their brilliance and creativity??
I am totally going to implement that plan when Grace gets a little older and is able to understand :)
Pat yourself on the back for a brilliant mother idea ... that worked! Woohoo!
What brilliant inspiration! I love it! I hope it continues to bring such wonderfully relaxing results!!
Love it... Now I want an update on Tuesday of how a week has gone! Ok, so I think I will adopt your idea if it is ok, cuz the other day I said, Ok, it's been 3 hours, if your toys are not picked up off the floor downstairs, I will throw away any that I find on the floor...
The boys ran immediately down, and came back up with a pirate ship and some pirates and Keedon said
"ok, mom, just throw em away now..."
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