Kid clutter....

bossymoo

Mine are 2 and 4 and I think the key is adequate storage, as well as not too much "stuff". They don't really play unsupervised yet, but our plan is we have a quick tidy away before meals, just to make space for the next activity. Plus I set the kitchen timer in 5 min bursts before bath time so we can race each other to put things away.

Am trying to instil the habits while they are still little!

mrcow

notanewuser wrote: »

This.

OP - I was exactly like your daughter at 5.

And 15.

And 25.

And now at 35.

It's in the DNA.

My sister is OCD about tidiness and has one hell of a bleach fetish.

I'm going to start using that as my excuse for the state of my house sometimes:

"It's not me, it's my genetics."

meer53

Chill out. My daughter is the same, she's 12. One day i will have my house back, but she will be gone

I can't bear that thought.

notanewuser

mrcow wrote: »

I'm going to start using that as my excuse for the state of my house sometimes:

"It's not me, it's my genetics."

And why not.

As an adult I'm responsible for it. I choose to fight my natural tendencies - most of the time. I'm no slave to housework, nor would I wish to be.

Valli

Tea-and-Cake wrote: »

I am so sick of the mess and clutter associated with my children. My 5yo loves arts and crafts so her carpet and bed is constantly covered in pens, pencil, pencil sharpenings!!:eek: little bits of paper she has cut out, stickers etc etc despite me sorting it out nearly every day. It is horrendous but she can happily do that for hours. Yesterday though, in addition to all of that mess was tipped out dressing up clothes, the contents of a board game and fuzzy felt. I could have screamed. She is very messy and "cannot" (apparently) tidy up as it is "too difficult".I have another child who is naturally tidy and will put things away without being asked.

I am so tempted to get rid of 90% of their playthings and leave them with about 10 toys each.

Why would you get rid of the stuff belonging to your 'tidy' child?

But IF you want advice here, FWIW is mine.

As has been said up the thread, tidying up IS daunting; more so if you're a little person so things need to have 'proper' homes; you need to teach her to put a toy away before another comes out; ensure, if she is going to play in her room that she has a waste bin in there for rubbish. Have homes/places for things. Randomly complaining 'this is a mess' and then asking her to 'tidy it up' will get you nowhere. So; be specific; 'put your crayons away now'; 'put the Fuzzy Felt back in its box'; and one instruction at a time so she is not overwhelmed. Make sure she can access the storage properly, too.

HTH

purple.sarah

If she has more stuff than she uses try talking to her about giving some of it away to a charity shop to help other children who don't have as much. That way it will be a positive experience for her to declutter rather than feeling like she is losing out. Check what she finds difficult about tidying and see if it can be simplified and try rewarding her with a star chart, giving her a star for each day she tidies then a little treat if she completes a week.

Try not to worry too much about clutter though. I know a mother whose house looks very tidy and who frets whenever her toddler makes a mess. I can't help but feel she has the wrong priorities and is stressing too much and missing out on moments with her child she will never get back.

mummyroysof3

I hate mess but try not to nag unless it's really bad but I don't like mess that's dangerous

rachbc

My daughter is 6 and loves arts and crafts. I find the more specific I am the better when it comes to tidying u. If I ask her to tidy up she just gets stressed and overwhelmed. If I say - put the pencils in the pot she knows what to do and does it, then give her the next task and so on.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

If it were just toys, I'd be with you 100%.

But it's art stuff. Despite what my girls probably feel were commandant-like attitudes towards clothes, books and toys over the place, I tried to give them a bit of peace where it came to art things (although the glitter was kept strictly in my possession and only provided if the room was tidy - so much so, they would get the room ready, put newspaper down and then come and ask for it).


The eldest is now taking a BA in Fine Arts at a good university, the youngest is taking Art and some form of Design Technology for GCSE.


I can recommend some form of crate she can just dump it all in at the end of the day, with some smaller boxes for putting small bits in.


Otherwise you could be squashing down something that is her main talent. And punishing both of them for her having that talent. Which would be cruel.

Frith

We have 2 craft boxes in the kitchen (Ikea things on wheels) where all the paint, stickers, stamps etc are stored. Under those is an enormous plastic chest given to us by a friend who had retired from primary school teaching and it is full of more paper, card and borders than you could ever use!

Crafty things are done on the dining room table here and it is easy enough to sweep everything back up into the boxes.

As for the other toys, we have under the bed plastic storage boxes. 1 for wooden train track, 2 for Lego, 2 full of Playmobile etc and they come out one at a time (or 2 if there are 2 of the same stuff).