do you have a daily tidy up time with your kids?

i know my girls are still fairly young, but they follow directions really well & so i've been thinking about starting a daily tidy up time as part of their bedtime routine. i get really frazzled when the toys start to take over the house so i usually toss everything back into their toy drawer every night after they're in bed. lately though, i've been thinking that maybe they're old enough to help & take some responsibility for it too. i mean, i think it would just be another kind of game for them. what do you do with your kids?

 

My kids are a little weird, they love to clean up, so I don't have to do much to get them involved. But when I first started, I did it before nap time and bedtime. I would make it a race "who can get more crayons put away before Mommy does?" and with blocks "let's put all the blue away, now yellow" They are not the best at it, but they do love to help.

 

We try to get the 3 of them to clean-up either before dinner or before bed; our 6 year old does an awesome job, of course - so we really have to work on getting the little guys to pitch in so he doesn't end up picking everything up himself.

I find it works the best if I pick up a car and say, "Sullivan, put the car where it goes.", "Finley, go put the play food in the kitchen.", etc. They get distracted and start playing with the toys they are supposed to be picking up, if I don't offer some guidance! :laughing:

 

No, but we totally need to start with this with all of our kids. I'm thinking that if we can all spend 10 mins. picking stuff up every night, maybe it won't take over the house. Let's hope at least. I still haven't figured out how to control all the clutter and DD1 is 7 and the twins will be 5 in Sept.

 

We try to do it nightly, but it just doesn't work for us.

Their daycare taught them a clean up song so they do sing it while picking up the few toys that they do pick up.

 

It depends. The playroom (which is in the basement & I don't have to see it all the time) gets cleaned up usually once a week and they help me. But I have taught them that if they have toys out anywhere else in the house, they have to be put away before they get something else out to play with. That way the rest of my house stays relatively toy free and they can have their mess in the playroom.

 

I start singing the clean up song and they usually join in and start to pick up. I wish I could say it was nightly, but its not. I usually do it when there are major messes or LOTS of toys everywhere. I do like the idea of a daily tidy up time though.

 

is there an actual clean up song? or is this just something you have each individually picked & assigned to be the clean up song? ardon:

 

There is an actualsong. When DD was in PT, the therapist use to sing this at the end of the session to get her to help clean up. I couldn't ever remember all of the words to it so I made up my own: ardon:
Clean up Clean Up everybody clean up
Clean up Clean up It's time to clean up

 

I used to be so scheduled with the girls, we always had our day fairly planned out. But, now that they have gotten older, I am not nearly as scheduled. It pretty much is just when I see that things are getting out of control will I make them stop and start cleaning up. Sometimes it's before bed, sometimes it's mid-afternoon, sometimes it's in the morning. They clean really well when I am in there helping them, but I just don't always have the time, so I will set a timer for like 5 to 10 minutes, give them each a job to do, then when the timer goes off check to see if they have it done, reset the timer and give them another job to do. That usually works for them.

 

we clean up before nap and before bed, sometimes they help, sometimes they don't, but we do sing a song and that usually helps them clean, it goes like this:
clean up clean up everybody everywhere
clean up clean up everybody do your share
it's cute

 

I think it's great that you want to get them involved! I started with my girls super young, around 14-15 months once they could walk. Before dinner, we would sing the clean up song and start picking toys up. I would only sing one verse and then walk around talking as I picked up "here is some food that goes in your kitchen, I'm going to bring it there...", etc. It didn't take long for them to catch on. I would say within a year of that one of my girls could pick up most of the toys herself. At about 3, I would tell both of them to clean up while I cooked dinner and they would put almost everything in the right place.

When they were still taking one nap during the day, we would clean up before lunch and before dinner. Now we only pick up before dinner, and sometimes if there is just too much stuff out.

 

I need to sing the song for MYSELF! but really, it is a great idea to do just go ahead and attempt toy clean up a specific time a day, habits are for a lifetime... and I do struggle with this whole area... so maybe I could help the kids out by training them early!

 

Same here except we clean up after bath before stories. I also started super young and now at 3+ they can do it all by themselves. Recently some nights have been more of a struggle with dramatic sighs and flinging themselves onto the couch proclaiming "Mommy, I am just TOOOOO tired to clean up!"

Oh and our clean up song is:

Clean up. Clean up!
Everybody everywhere.
Clean up. Clean up!
Everybody do your share!

 

we also clean up all togethre. we try to clean up each big thing as we play w/it (and we don't play w/a lot cuz we're not home all that much) but at the end of the day we all clean up together... yes, some days momma does more than the boys, but they are learning. they also have to help clean up when they make a mess intentionally (throw food on the floor or out of their sippies). i think ti's good for them to have responsiblities.

they also carry their own little backpacks or lunch packs when they go to school or to childcare at the ymca. if their bags are too heavy i make sure they carry somethng. they're my big boys and they know how to help! (at least, that's what i tell them).

gl, jl