Cleaning up their Mess

Are you tired of your kids acting like royalty around the
house? Making a mess of their rooms as they throw away their clothes and food, expecting you to go
picking after them?

Enough is enough – pull yourself out of the mess by teaching your
toddlers to help. Its time for Operation Clean Up!As a
parent, the following steps will certainly help with the clean up:

• STEP 1: Make an announcement. Let your toddlers know that it’s
  time to clean up. Give them a specific place to put the toys – a plastic tub or a toy box will do
  fine. Place the container in the middle of the room.
• STEP 2: Using a loud voice, say “Look at this huge mess. Is there anyone who can help
  me?” as you are setting the container down. A toddler’s attention tends to pick up this tone. You
  can also make up and sing a cleanup song to get them into the swing. Remember to be happy and
  positive about the task.
• STEP 3: By means of
  demonstration, pick up some toys on the floor and place them in the container. All the while you can
  continue with the singing and coaxing.
• STEP 4: Now is the time to ask your children to
  (please) pick up a specific toy. Thank them when they start placing toys in your hand or in the
  container.
• STEP 5: Always keep a back-up plan,
  as a consequence for not helping. Give them a timeout or better still, you can threaten to take away
  one of their treasured items till they start cleaning up.
• STEP 6: Warn the toddlers only once and then follow through with the consequence they
  don’t help.
• STEP 7: Continue cleaning up the
  toys until all of the toys are picked up.