I finally did it. I started a toy "check out". You know how you go to the library and pick out some books, to check out? Then you return them and get some more books? Ok, by far, its not a perfect system (losing books, fines, etc.) But, I just put all my kids toys in the school room, locked up. They were already organized into bins. But, my kids regularly open every bin, and scatter toys all over the playroom. Nobody wants to clean up this mess, and honestly I end up doing the work while my kids are asleep. I am so tired of this cycle.
So, now my children can only have one set of toys at a time (each). In order to get more toys, they must clean up what they are playing with and return the item(s). So far, it is working. It isn't even 9 o'clock yet, but no one is screaming yet.
This will be a bit more work for me, since I have to "unlock" the toy storage each time, but I'm hoping the kids will learn some responsibility, instead of me constantly cleaning up after them.
I also implemented the rule- no eating in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom. I am tired of crawling into bed and feeling like I'm sleeping in a cereal bowl. My kids are actually learning to eat at the dining room table. We've been following this rule for almost a month.
2 comments:
Wow! Very cool!
All sounds reasonable to me! I hate crumbs in the bed too!
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