How much do you keep track of your kids' stuff?

Luckily for us, my girls were never the types of toddlers who had to carry loveys or blankets around with them all the time. We were also pretty successful at making rules like "Bunny doesn't leave the bedroom." But there's still all that random junk that they feel the need to cart around, or the dolls that all get collected in the bedroom because they're playing "sleepover," or whatever. Then, of course, they lose track of it and I wind up looking under all the furniture or taking everything out of the toy box when they want some particular thing.

So, how do you handle this with your preschoolers? I pretty much take responsibility for keeping track of the important things like hats, sunglasses, shoes, etc. (which is hard enough). But for the other stuff, do you just tell them to lump it if they can't find something? What's realistic at this age?

 

If it's something that they can look for themselves - like I can say, go through that toy box and find it - then I'll ask them to do that. But usually, wuss that I am, it's me that goes hunting round. I try to tidy up as we go along but often they'll request that I don't tidy the 'party' up. I once tried asking Tal where she last saw her teddy and received the reply 'in my arms when I was playing with him', which was cute but not so helpful.

 

I have to admit, most of their stuff I keep track of. I will make them look for it with me, so at least they are taking some responsibility for it, but they don't have the toy hunting skills that I do. However, I have to give them credit, they can usually think about the last place they had it and then we go from there. If I am busy, I will say, "I'm sorry, you will have to wait until I have time to look for it and play with something else." Which usually ends up in a meltdown and time-out because they are screaming at me, but they do keep up with it better for a little while after that. I have tried to remind them every time they lose something that they need to keep up with it. If they lose it at bedtime, then they go to bed without it..that usually helps them remember to keep up with it better because it really upsets them if its a special lovely. We only have desginated spots for the big toys and a big toy box, so it is hard to keep up with the small toys they play with a lot. Certain things do not go outdoors, but even then, they sneak it past us before we know it and we end up finding it outside the next day. So, we don't do a very good job of it here.

 

I try to keep most of their stuff in different big plastic bins. But, they tend to play with stuff all over the house and don't always put things back where they belong. I will sometimes stop to look for stuff, but usually they know to search in certain stops to find the wanted toy. As they are getting older it is getting easier to have them clean up one thing before they move on to something else.

 

It's a mix of both, I guess. I am just not an anal person, it doesn't bother me if Ariel lost her clothes. That's the main thing that gets lost around here, doll accessories and parts to sets. Then they whine that they can't find their doll's hat or whatever, and I basically have a too bad attitude. Shoes, hats, stuff like that, I try to gather and put in their room if I see them laying around.

 

As I'm going about my day around here, I'm constantly picking things up that are left laying around & popping them back into whatever bin they belong in so that later they will be able to find them. And about once a month or so, I go through all the bins & resort the stuff that's been put in the wrong place. But if something is lost (as far as toys go), I usually don't go out of my way to find it.

 

My kids are pretty good about putting things away in their correct spot, but if they can't find something, we usually just tell them to look for it and typically they find it or forget what they wanted to it turns up a little bit later.

 

I'm with you. Sometimes I'm just a meanie and say, "Well, you should have put it away and then you wouldn't have lost it." I also make them look for things. After all, I wasn't the one playing with it. The one exception is their loveys. I will search to the ends of the earth for those! They do have tons of labeled bins with pictures on them so they can easily see where things go.

 

I am an anal person, so I hate when things get lost! But it also drives me nuts trying to keep track of all these little things.

I think we probably need more separate bins, and the pictures are a great idea. Most of our random objects just go in big drawers under the train table, and they're all jumbled up in there. But OTOH, I don't want to invest too much energy in creating a storage system that I sort of doubt they'll follow.

 

I'm probably the opposite of anal. But, I remember what it was like when I was a kid. My mom is extremely organized and just expected me to naturally "get it." I didn't. This led to repeated trips back to "do better" when I was told to clean my room. I never knew exactly what that meant. I thought I had done a good job! So, I wanted to make it as simple as possible for my kids. I got a lot of different bins and containers and printed out the name of what goes in each bin with a picture to go along with it on the computer (Cars, dolls, trains, dress-up clothes, etc.). Then I used contact paper to put the label on the bin. Now when I tell my kids to go clean up they can easily see where things go and do a great job of putting things in the right place. The only time they get confused is for those random things that don't have a clear category. But, we have a bin just for misc stuff, too. Also, because they put things in the right place they can easily find them next time.

The only problem we have is when they don't actually put the toys away. This is my fault. I'm naturally a messy person and it hardly phases me to have toys laying around. I just don't make them clean up all the time. I'm trying to get better, though, because it does make things so much nicer.

 

I'm pretty anal about stuff lying around the house and after five years of dealing with all the toys I've found that the best thing for us is to do the sorted bins, but to put the bins up in their closets and have them ask me for a bin. I can then tell them that they have to clean up whatever bin of toys they are currently playing with and then I put that bin away before getting another. This has helped me tremendously with all those little toys that drive me crazy. The big stuff stays out but that's easier to put away. HTH!

 

I have totes for certain toys like one for Barbies, cars and other small items. And a toy box for misc items that don't really have a theme. I pretty much go around all day and pick up after them and so does my mom. They do help a little bit. I am looking for something they lost all day long. Sometimes if I am busy they have to look for it themselves. And they usually cry and get upset.

It seems like they are always loosing their cups and shoes. I am always looking for them.

Hopefully it gets better.