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dawn2006
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 12:20pm | IP Logged
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What kind of rules do you have for your young kids and their toys? Ours get all spread out and I'm considering making it a rule that they must stay on the kids' side of the house. This is where there are the two kids' rooms and an open room inbetween called the "children's retreat". I really like this idea until I think about how much they love to play with their toys where I am: the kitchen and laundry room on the other side of the house. BUT I'm tired of the stuff being strewn all over the place.
I do have the toys organized in bins and stored in the garage. I'd like to tell them "one bin at a time" but sometimes they each want to play with something different and then boom: bits of toys from 2 or 3 different bins all over the house. I'm up to the challenge of teaching them to keep their toys in their rooms or the "retreat" (where we have two couches and a small tv) but I just wanted to hear if anyone thinks that's a losing battle for my younger two or not. TIA.
ETA: The other reason I like for them to play close to me is that I can hear them when things are starting to escalate and I might need to intervene. Now, I guess I'm really not in the kitchen and laundry room all day. It sure feels like it sometimes, though!
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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 12:34pm | IP Logged
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If you want them to be near you.. then perhaps what you need to concentrate your energy on is for them to collect everything and take it back.. which should happen any time they've moved onto something else.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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mellyrose
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 1:49pm | IP Logged
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We try (try being the operative word . . . ) to have a daily pickup throughout the house so things that aren't where they belong are put back where they belong. I give each boy a basket and send them through the house picking up their stray toys and then they are to return them to their places.
While I'd love for it to happen daily, it actually happens more like weekly . . . and with much complaining. I'm sure if I was more consistent with it daily, I'd hear less complaints.
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Maryan
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 2:26pm | IP Logged
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Our rules:
1. No toys in the kitchen -- I'm pregnant and don't want to slip on something that I might not see under my belly!  In the kitchen, they color, draw, cut, etc. at the table or play with magnetic letters on the fridge. I will allow babies to play with pots and pans. Oh and, I guess this could be toys: I also have a kid-sized table and a shelf in one of the cupboards with two baskets filled child sized "real" utensils and pans, so they can help Mommy. They go right back in the cabinet when they are done.
2. No toys in the bedrooms -- books are allowed. Bedrooms in our house are just for sleeping.
3. Indoor toys are allowed anywhere else in the house. But they are not allowed outside, and outside toys are not allowed in.
4. We try to clean as we go, but before dinner (or sometimes before bed), we have a major pick-up so all toys are put away. The boys are very good about doing that using bins/baskets that can be toted to pick up the toys. We also don't have a large amount of toys either - which helps. 
And I want to be clear -- lest I come off as a clean freak because I'm not and my house is often cluttered. Indoor toys are the only thing that I clean for sure every day.
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Maryan
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humanaevitae
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 3:46pm | IP Logged
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We don't allow toys in the main room or kitchen. Sometimes I will allow them during a specific time though if all the kids want to play with the same toy- like Lincoln Logs.
Except for the tiny Legos, they don't have toys in their rooms. Just books.
I expect toys to stay in the rooms they are stored in. We do have a lot of space though. Besides a learning room that holds many of the building toys, we also have a playroom and a basement.
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Lori B
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| Posted: Nov 07 2007 at 9:28am | IP Logged
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Our toys "travel" just about everywhere in the house We have a second-floor family room/ library, a main floor living room and a basement rec room. Different toys belong in each room (as well as some special ones kept in the bedrooms), and we make sure everything is put back where it belongs. There is a basket at the top of the family room steps for putting toys in that need to be taken back downstairs, there is a basket at the bottom of the family room stairs for taking toys back *up*, and another at the top of the basement stairs for taking toys back down there. During our before-supper-pick-up, one of the kids grabs a basket, takes it where it belongs, and puts everything away. When the kids were small, it took maybe 15minutes, now it takes about 5. My house is (very) far from completely clean and organized, but this system is working almost perfectly.
(We also use a similar basket system for the clean laundry, the craft supplies and the school books)
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anniemm
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| Posted: Nov 07 2007 at 3:29pm | IP Logged
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We are blessed with more space than we need in our home, so we have a play room where all toys are stored. My kids are still young and napping, so at nap time, any toys that have left the play room go back in, but don't necessarily need to be put away. I just close the door. Before bed though, everything goes back to it's place. Toys are NOT allowed in the kitchen or bathrooms - it really grosses me out and bothers me if they go there. Nor are they allowed to take toys downstairs to their bedrooms because a) I have fallen several times with the baby when I was holding her and couldn't see the toys underfoot, and b) I don't like to store toys OR books in their rooms (I didn't even when we were living in a smaller home) because they become distracting at bedtime.
They do not have free access to all of their toys. I loath small pieces of all sorts of toys being mixed up and everywhere. We keep our toys together and some sets up high, if they want them they can have them as long as whatever set of toys they had before have been cleaned up and put away.
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ALmom
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| Posted: Nov 07 2007 at 5:31pm | IP Logged
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We have always allowed toys where we live - but the toys like blocks, trains, etc. (ie the toddler appropriate and not junky toys) are stored in a downstairs closet as are the games. All other toys are stored in bedrooms but may be brought down to play.
I try to help by having an announced pick-up time (though I'm not great about this) or a reminder offered (for the toddler this is a specific request for him to come and get "name of toy" that is sitting "name location where it is noticed". However, if after one reminder, toys are left on the floor, then I dispose of them at my discretion. If they are better toys, they go in the claim box for a while - sometimes stored where the child can see them but cannot get them or play with them. If they are junky toys, broken or such, then I trash them. My children are pretty quick to claim what they really care about and do generally work harder at staying on top of clean up because I am not adverse to calling them in the midst of some game to pick up something that was overlooked.
Janet
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Household rules for toys.
