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Parents who are part of our Foundations in Simplicity Parenting program often create rotating toy libraries or other storage solutions to keep accessible toys at a minimum.
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(Think of this in terms of play spaces five minutes to tidy their room five minutes to tidy the outside toys five minutes to tidy their playroom etc.) More toys than that creates overwhelm and anxiety which do not lend themselves to cooperative participation.
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Many of our frustrations around tidying up can be minimized with more appropriate expectations.įirst, a standard rule of thumb is to have no more toys than your child can tidy in five minutes. We also frequently expect them to do more than may be reasonable. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is too high of an expectation for most all children in early childhood (until 7 or 8). We often expect our children to clean up on their own after being asked. A key ingredient to getting your child to tidy up (cooperatively) is to have fewer things to tidy and a place for everything to go. It’s a lot easier to keep things clean when there aren’t as many things! For the sake of this post, I am specifically focused on your children’s toys and play space. Simplify your environment and have places for things to live.
I LIKE TO TIDY UP SERIES
If you are new at rhythm, you can learn more about rhythm in my rhythm series (first post here and all available here on my blog). Regardless of the rhythm you create, try to have clean up time at a predictable and consistent time during your day and/or week. I know another family who has a “dance party” after dinner each night, cranking up the music and cleaning together. I know one family who sets a timer for 15 minutes every night before dinner and spends the time cleaning and tidying up their home. The same principle holds true at home: when tidying up isn’t an unexpected surprise, they are much more likely to get on board.įor some families, it works better to have one time a day when the whole family cleans up for a certain period of time. Once they had been in our program for a few days and learned the rhythm, they were much more likely to transition from play to cleaning up with ease. We had a couple transition songs around this so they would know it was coming.
I LIKE TO TIDY UP FREE
Children knew that when free play was over, we would tidy everything up. During days at Little Round Schoolhouse, we tidied up every day after free play, both inside and out. Have a consistent and predictable rhythm around tidying up and chores.Ĭhildren thrive with consistency and predictability and the same goes for when they are expected to help clean up or tidy. Model and participate in the chores with your child.Simplify your environment and have places for things to live.Have a consistent and predictable rhythm around tidying up and chores.These elements are easy to bring home to your children and family to increase cooperation and enjoyment around tidying and cleaning up. Five ingredients for getting your children to help tidyĪfter leading Little Round Schoolhouse for over a decade, it was clear we were doing something right when it came to getting children to help tidy up.