Why our kids don't understand the importance is beyond me.
Anyway, I've been battling with my 3-year-old to put away his toys for a long time. I've tried a special song or doing it myself and hoping he'd follow. I even gave up for a while, and let him just go to bed. I don't like battles and tears.
Then, I realized, what an overwhelming task putting away his toys must be. Developmentally, children see a small group of objects scattered across a space as a lot more than we do. When I learned this in college, I recalled looking at my plate full of rice as a child, and telling my father I couldn't eat all of it. It looked like SO MUCH. Then he would take a fork, group it all together, and suddenly, I saw there were only one or two bites left. Amazing how that worked!
So, I helped my son get organized. I picked a container and told him to put all his Mr. Potato Head parts in it. When he was done, I told him to take his little Lego bag, and put his Legos away. Meanwhile, I picked up some toys too - working together is, after all, an important trait to master, as well.
No tears, and the toys were put away in no time. We even had a little time to spin and dance in celebration. I told him he did a great job, and we moved on to getting ready for bed.
If this works for a week, I'll know it's the right approach. Right now, though, logically, I think it's the right thing to do. There's no battle. It's just a calm way to teach a child how to get organized.
oh i hear ya about the toys. Caden has literally spent 6 hours being confined to our living room because he would not clean up some blocks that he had dumped out. (SOOOO stubborn)
ReplyDeletesometimes it doesn't seem worth the struggle, but once he realizes that there really is not that many toys, its not a big deal at all.