|
Shortly after my daughter was born, her entire collection of toys fit inside a small plastic storage box. In the months that followed, the box overflowed into the corner of the room. By her first birthday, the gifts she received from family and friends and from her indulgent parents took up most of the space in her unused playpen. Shelves were built, toy boxes and bins were added, and soon we found ourselves surrounded by a sea of brightly colored toy pieces. When our second child arrived, the mass of toys threatened to take over our entire house. It was obvious that we needed a strategy to keep the chaos under control.
Although this may be the most difficult step, it’s necessary to exert some control over the sheer amount of toys that a child owns. No kid needs three different sets of doll houses and furnishings. There are at least three companies that make playsets with barns and farm animals. Choose one brand and stick with it, and don’t be shy about returning items that don’t fit with the child’s established collection. Determine which toys are favorites and encourage the child to give up the ones that are often ignored. You may choose to rotate toys, putting some away and exchanging them at a later date for those that have lost the kids’ interest, or encourage children to give some to charity.
Clear plastic storage boxes are an excellent investment for organizing toy clutter. You can tape a picture of the type of toy that belongs inside, so the kids know where to put the toys when it’s time to clean up. The boxes that many toys and games come with rarely holds up for very long. If the toys are part of a larger collection that they may accumulate over time, buy a box large enough to hold future additions. Group similar toys together – wood blocks in one box, plastic building blocks in another. Keep the groups separate, yet not so specific that the kids will have trouble deciding which toys belong where. It’s also helpful to provide a large box for “miscellaneous” toys that don’t easily fit in any category. This big box should be sorted out every couple of months to make sure that it isn’t hiding important pieces to other sets, broken toys, or other items such as that TV remote control you’ve been searching for.
For older children, zip closure plastic storage bags are excellent for storing small toy pieces such as puzzles. Since the boxes don’t hold up well, you might cut out the picture on the box and slide it into the bag with the pieces. Punch holes in the bag with a three-hole punch, and several puzzles can be stored in a binder.
Having convenient places to store the children’s toys does not keep them from being scattered throughout the house. Try to designate one or two areas for play areas, and keep the toys in there. Keep a laundry basket in other rooms for quick cleanup, and transport the items that don’t belong back to their proper places daily. Even if one room is in a state of chaos, if there’s a convenient place to put everything that doesn’t belong in other rooms, the rest of the house will remain uncluttered and tidy.
Once children arrive, your house will never again be completely clean and neat. But the chaos of toys scattered everywhere can be minimized with a few inexpensive purchases. Storage boxes, zip-closure plastic bags, and large bins can help organize the sets of toys. Allow at least one room that does not have to be kept tidy, while keeping rules for other rooms and providing baskets for quick cleanup. These simple strategies have been proven against the messiest kids and can help preserve the sanity of adults who like to maintain a sense of order.
|
| |
