Keeping it Clean!

I had a friend recently send out a plea for help on getting kids to clean their rooms. I'm not saying I've the answer for her or for anyone, but this is what is working for us.

Here's the story. We have lots of toys, too many in fact, and shelves and bins to keep them in. Though, it seemed like everyday the girls (or their friends) felt the need to empty ALL of the containers and had a HUGE mess to clean at the end of the day. It was getting pretty hairy when it came time for clean up. Well, one particularly stressful night, we called it quits. We set the timer for 15 mins and let her know that when that 15 min was up, EVERYTHING still on the floor would be boxed up and placed in the garage for 3 weeks. No exceptions! I didn't care if kids came to play and there would be no toys to play with, I was done.

For 3 weeks, she had to show me she could pick up without making it a big ordeal in order for her toys to return. We continued to use the timer. And every night she had time to pick up toys and whatever was still there when the beeper went off, joined her other toys in the garage. It WORKED!! She has been so much better.

In the mean time, I went out and bought several large containers to store toys in like categories. At the end of the 3 wks, we sorted through the toys and placed the containers in our laundry room. Each day Maggie may ASK to choose 1 bin to play with. If she would like to play with "baby dolls" instead of her "kitchen" toys she has to pick up ALL the baby doll toys around the house and TRADE bins with me. We continue to use the timer system. If ALL the toys are not in the container at beeping time, she loses the option to play with that toy container for a week. I know...I'm so mean. I've heard it before.

This is why it works for us:
1. I don't have to nag or yell anymore. She already knows what can happen if she doesn't beat the timer.
2. Maggie is no longer so overwhelmed with the mess. It is far more manageable for her to clean up just 1 container's worth of toys.

AND.... as Emma gets older and wants to participate in choosing toys, the girls will need to learn compromising skills in order to play with they toys that they like.So that's that. I hope this might be helpful to other moms out there struggling with this challenge. "Be STRONG, Be the Mom!!" Alright, a little too cheerleader-ish.