A month or so ago I had about had it with our playroom and all of our toys. The nice thing about having a playroom is that we do mostly manage to keep all our toys in one room, but sometimes it felt like a war zone in there. The girls were always good about picking it up with supervision and direction, which was great, but it was just hard for me to add one more thing into our daily routine, especially when it was usually at the end of the day when I am trying to make dinner.
Dave and I tossed around several ideas, and then I got some input from one of my "older" mommy friends. I LOVE talking to my older friends because they have so many great ideas! Who needs to read a book about parenting when you have wise mamas around who know you and your kids and can speak into the situation. Love, love, love it!
So, my wise friend suggested that I just let them clean up the room unsupervised. Interesting idea. They know where everything goes, why not? For the past couple weeks I have been letting them clean up the room by themselves right before dinner. It is usually around 4.30 that I get them started, and they can eat their dinner when they are finished. I have had to set the timer a few times, which means they have 30 minutes (or however much time I give them) to clean the playroom and eat their dinner. We have had a couple close calls, but for the most part it has worked. The girls do not want me to set the timer, so they are motivated to get everything cleaned up. Annelise is even in the habit now of going into other rooms to check for toys and bring them back to the playroom.
Awesome...awesome...I love it! One more chore that I can hand over to my 5 and 3-year-old. And I suppose not only that, but this teaches them to care enough about their things to take care of them and put them away in a place where they will not get ruined.
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