Clean up at our house (as in many others) is not always an easy thing. Getting my girls to cooperatively clean up has always been a struggle. It’s easy to fall into the habit of cleaning up after your kids when they are babies and often we miss the time when it would be easiest to get children to start helping as the older they get, the less cooperative they are. I made this mistake with both of my girls. By the time I realized they were old enough to clean up their own toys I had missed the window of opportunity for easily teaching them how to and it has been a struggle ever since.
Here’s how a typical clean up in our house goes:
Me: Honeybun, Sugarplum, our playroom is a mess. I think we need to clean it up today.
Honeybun: I don’t want to
Me: well, we can’t do anything else until it’s clean.
Honeybun: No!
Me: Sugarplum, can you please come put the baby doll stuff away
Sugarplum: (wanders around ignoring my request)
Me: Honeybun, you pick a CD and we’ll see if you can get all the toys put away in 5 songs then we can go outside and ride bikes.
Honeybun: ok (picks CD)
Me: (put in CD) Okay, you’ve got 5 songs. What are you going to do first?
Honeybun: It’s too much, I CAN’T DO IT!
Me: I’ll do the books. Sugarplum, can you please put the baby doll stuff away
(everyone cleans up for approx. 30 seconds)
Me: Honeybun , what are you cleaning up? Sugarplum, get that baby doll thing
Honeybun: Mommy, it’s not MY job! It’s too much, I can’t do it!
Me: Honeybun , if we all work together it won’t be so much work and we’ll be done quick quick!
Honeybun: NO! I don’t want to!
Cue trash bag….
I try to stay very patient with my girls and encourage them but sometimes it just gets to be too much, no one is listening and/or helping and I’m about to lose my cool and I have found the trash bag to be a very powerful tool in this struggle.
The first time I pulled out the trash bag I loaded all the toys on the floor into it while Honeybun pouted on the couch. It wasn’t until I tied up the bag and took it to the garage (towards the trash can) that she lost it and realized her toys were GONE, cue hysterical crying, screaming, apologizing and begging. The toys stayed in the garage for a few days and magically appeared back on the shelves while the girls were sleeping.
The second time she cried, screamed, apologized, begged and tried to grab things while I bagged the toys. Again the bag stayed in the garage for a few days and then they were returned in a pile on the floor and the girls had to put them away.
The third time (and each time since) I pulled the trash bag out of the cupboard and Honeybun screamed, cried, apologized and begged and then rushed to put everything away. Sometimes now even just the threat of the trash bag is enough to get her little body moving.
I’m still working with Sugarplum in getting her to help. She needs a lot more direction and gets distracted much easier but is slowly learning the process. I’m also trying to encourage them to clean up each set of toys when they are done before getting out another. This is standard practice in most early childhood classrooms but is something that I’ve found hard to keep on top of at home as when my children are playing nicely by themselves I take advantage and get other things done so am not always there to remind them to clean up before moving on.
