Our boys fall in the "love playing with toys, but hate cleaning them up" category.
Jeremy is an expert at maximizing the 'spread' of toys throughout the house. Sometimes every room in the house - including the bathroom and the laundry room - will have a toy or two (or 30) in it.
Our house is not that big and when the toys start to migrate, it drives me crazy (which in turn drives Tina crazy). Two weeks ago, Tina cleaned up the house, including the crawl space and the toys. She did a terrific job. I was happy.
All was well. Until the boys made a mess.
So, like all other parents, we told them to clean it up. That went over like a lead balloon. Neither child was capable of cleaning up. They couldn't sort Star Wars toys into one bin and animal toys into another.
After repeated warnings, Tina grabbed some garbage bags and we started filling them up with toys. That pushed Jeremy over the edged. He cried his guts out. He even kicked Tina at one point. I found the crying amusing, but I did like filling up those bags. It felt good.
Now the toy bins sit empty on the shelf. The bags are in the garage and they boys, especially Jeremy, will have to sort them and then put them away. Our plan is to temporarily 'retire' some of the toys to minimize the messes and to help the boys concentrate on a few toys. Then we will rotate the toys to keep things fresh.
Posted by Adam
