The past few weeks have been a definite learning experience for my girls. I am trying to teach them the importance of neat and tidy along with organization. The consequences of not cleaning up after themselves and putting things back where they belong? I take the particular toy away. That's right, I take it away.
Wow, tough right? I don't think so, haha. It was getting to the point where I had to do something as they weren't keeping up with their chores properly. You know, things like shoving things under the bed and dresser drawers thinking I will never check...... I'm sure you can relate to that one.
I pulled up boxes from downstairs and gave them all a dose of reality. I picked up the toys that they seemed to forget about and put them in a box. I told them it was up to them to earn it back. Tears? A few. They weren't taking my warnings seriously, but now they seem to understand that mama wasn't playin'.
I told them that each time they remember to put things back in their proper place, they will receive one toy back. It has been a challenging time, but hopefully they will start to see the light. I remember shoving stuff under my bed and calling it a day. Mama is onto them...hahahaha.
Last year I decided to go to Target and pick up a bunch of bins and shelves so that it would be easy for them to see where things go. This worked out swimmingly for a while, but kids get lazy and have to be reminded over and over again. How about mixing up toys? Phewww that drives me nuts, but it's bound to happen from time to time.
I am thinking of creating a separate chart for each girl to go along with their chore chart. Some sort of color coding system might be in place. I haven't fully decided as of yet. Because we have small spaces, it can be a challenge to keep things organized, but I want them to learn the importance of this before we end up moving and they have a bigger room to deal with. Baby steps is best.
As far as school work goes, I bought work trays and put their names on them to keep papers organized. It does help, until papers overload and become unsightly. This is when it is time to sort and/or throw away. You should see their homeschool portfolios...yikes! I can't wait until summer when I can re-structure and reorganize our homeschool. It will be so refreshing to do so.
What systems do you have in place to keep your kids organized? Feel free to share. It's always nice comparing ideas and possibly adopting new ones.
I have one of the bins that go on shelves and I have toys sorted and I have my daughter put them back in the right bin. I have to do that with the toys downstairs yet.
ReplyDeleteI never feel organized enough! But we do have "toy time out." When those toys don't get back to their spots, they have to hang out in a giant rubbermaid tub for a while. They have to be earned back. We do have a chore chart but I'm terrible with following through and making sure it gets done. We have lots of expedit shelves and canvas boxes for all their toys. Each type of toy has it's own box - wooden blocks in one, foam blocks in another, magnetic dolls in a third, and one for lincoln logs. It's helped my kids to have lots of different colored boxes to put things in. It makes clean up a little faster and easier. But we're still working on it here!
ReplyDeleteI only have one and it's a battle to try and keep everything contained. I can't imagine trying to a whole houseful of them organized!
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