May 11, 2009
Tackle It Tuesday #156 — Where is Mr. Potato Head?
Okay Ladies, a couple of weeks ago, I alluded to my latest kick in the pants to get cleaning. I’m taking part in a fun kind of bloggy cleaning project sponsored by Pledge.
I’m joining with four other bloggers for a cleaning intervention with Trish Suhr. My fellow blogging friends are Katja, Casey, Erin and Jim.
The crazy blogger that I am… I let the Pledge camera crews into my untidy townhouse for a good look into the chaos of my clutter. (The video will be published soon.) And for the next few weeks, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, you’ll find me at How I Clean Now blogging about my battle with my mess.
Don’t worry, I’ll be here on Tuesdays too… I’ll be publishing tackles here as I try and follow Trish’s organizing and cleaning advice.
(Full disclosure here Ladies… They did entice me to expose my hideous habits with a little monetary compensation. How I Clean Now is sponsored by Pledge.)
Here is an excerpt from one of my recent posts, “Where is Mr. Potato Head?“:
“I’ve tried very hard to get their play space organized, but it doesn’t seem to be working. I’m really hoping that Trish can give me some guidance in this area.
As you can see in the photo, I have some bins and drawers for the girls to put their toys away. So we play the clean-up game and put toys into the bins.
But the problem is that all the toys get mixed up and goodness knows where all the pieces of Mr. Potato Head are. Any toys that have pieces get all thrown together.
I know it seems like a simple solution…have them play with one toy and then put it away. But realistically, it doesn’t happen that way.”
So this particular Tackle is yet to be Tackled. I am waiting to hear what advice Trish Suhr has for tackling these toys.
In the meantime, maybe you can all give me YOUR suggestions.
“So I’m wondering what I should expect of an almost 4 year old and an 18 month old? Should I be trying to get them to keep their toys sorted and only play with one thing at a time?
Is letting them toss all their toys together without keeping the pieces of Mr. Potato Head together teaching them not to value their toys?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and your experiences with teaching children to put away their toys.”
Tell me what YOU think…
Please click over and leave me a comment on my post at How I Clean Now.
And then link up back here and show me your tackle.
Would you like to post as a guest tackler? Submit your guest tackles to be featured here at 5M4M. You can write Susan at tackleittuesday at gmail dot com. Remember, we are here to promote your site!
Each week on Tuesday, we are posting before and after pictures of a project or trouble area that we tackled this week.
Find out more about Tackle It Tuesday here.
The project can be little or big – whatever you want.Basically, Tackle It Tuesday is about giving ourselves incentive, deadlines and satisfaction in getting our household tasks done.
(It doesn’t even have to be housework… just whatever is on your To Do list.)
If you tackled a project this week, just add a comment and add your link below.
Happy tackling ladies…
Filed under Daily Life, Tackle It Tuesday by
Comments on Tackle It Tuesday #156 — Where is Mr. Potato Head? »
L2L @ 12:04 am
I have found that when I have a specific space for each of the toys it helps the kiddos help clean up better. Clear bins are usually the best and putting photos on the bin of what needs to go into each bin gives them exact instructions. My theory is if they can take it out they can put it back. If you find that clean up is too much then maybe it’s time to purdge some toys. We find when our kids have too many toys they don’t really play with anything but one we weeded through and they had fewer toys they played with them more often.
Maddy @ 12:05 am
If I were to start all over again, especially with little kids, I think I’d use those primary coloured target bins where you can just chuck everything in……anything to clear the carpet.
Cheers
Organizing Mommy @ 12:56 am
If you want the little ones to know where things go, you need to have a picture of the item on the appropriate bin with the word also. The issue is not primarily that they do not KNOW where to put things it is that they do not WANT to put them away. Pick up time has to be supervised pretty closely until they learn to do it themselves. A Lot of us expect our little ones to just do it, without being taught first. It’s good training for them to learn at a young age to keep track of their stuff!
Romie @ 1:25 am
I have the same problem–I’d organize and later everything would get mixed up, and finally got so sick of it I just packed up most the toys. I really think there were just too many. I didn’t give them all away, I’m just planning on rotating them out. So far no complaining about missing toys, and its been a month so its time to rotate! Good luck!
Alexa Claven @ 3:01 am
I love this post. I’m a mom too, so this is a familiar story. Good luck!
brandy w @ 7:40 am
i wish my play area was that neat!
Andrea McMann @ 7:41 am
My daughter is obsessed with stuffed animals. She will NEVER have too many (in her opinion). The problem is, we have a dog who also loves stuffed animals…and loves to chew them up (!), which of course is heartbreaking for my little girl! It’s a constant battle for me to get the stuffed animals off the floor before they get dragged under the bed and destroyed! It’s hard to do with the abundance of stuffed animals in my house!
Liz@Hoosier Homemade @ 8:23 am
My boys are a little older now, but I still have their old toys in boxes with lids. I have each box marked with a sheet I did on the computer. ex:Ninja Turtles, Legos, Toy Story, etc.
Thanks for hosting!
~Liz
susieshomemade @ 8:43 am
We have a very small house and as such, we don’t have much space for toys. So, I rotate things in and out. I pack some toys away. When she gets bored of what is out, I pack those away and bring out the “new” toys. It’s like Christmas without spending the money all over again:-)
Sheila Gregoire @ 8:54 am
When my kids were really little we rotated the toys, too. I only had a few out at a time. The big problem for us was the dress-up clothes, because they would throw their own clothes in that bin, and I’d constantly be finding single socks and other such things six months after I threw out the other one!
We had to start weeding through dress-up clothes, too, and only have a few out at a time. They really didn’t mind, and it made it easier for them to clean up, too!
Visit To Love, Honor and Vacuum today!
Upstatemomof3 @ 9:09 am
My son is four and a half and he still does not necessarily play with one toy at a time and then put it away. That is a skill that takes awhile I think. And an 18 month old – forget it. If she cleans up at the end of the day you are doing GREAT!!
Seriously though I would try smaller bins. One for Mr Potato Head, one for I those are little people toys, etc. That is what we have. So this way when things are put away all the pieces of the same toy are together. Although, sometimes I do find a train in with the hockey men but that’s okay.
Full disclosure – we do not have neat and cleanliness completely tackled either.
Dore' @ 9:39 am
This is my very 1st time to participate in Tackle it Tuesday…. but I definitely plan on participating in alot more!!
I’m not seeing the Mr. Linky anywhere, so I’ll just leave my link here… Thanks!
http://doresdiaries.com/2009/05/my-1st-tackle-it-tuesday.html
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Michelle Pendergrass @ 10:00 am
We’re tackling–new floor joists and subfloor. Ugh!!
Wilma @ 10:10 am
My daughter likes to drag her toys from the play-room to our living room. I think bins, drawers and totes are all we can do! Great post.
Onna@toddlercraft @ 11:28 am
It is a constant battle to keep toys organized!! I have lots of bins so they can easily put things away, but they never go where they are supposed to!! So every few months I resort them all!! I try to not let them go from one play area to another without cleaning up the area they are in. I do let them take more then one thing out in that area but once it gets to 3 or so things, I say that’s enough. My kids are 3 and 6.
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Maggie @ 1:08 pm
I just got done scooping up a bunch of random toys and throwing them in the toy bin. I seriously need help in organizing!
Theresa Walsh Giarrusso @ 2:32 pm
Hey Susan — I think this is a constant battle that the kids can help you fight as they get older. It’s probably too much to expect the 18-month-old to separate and know where the pieces to Mr. Potato Head are. The 4-year-old is getting to a point where they could organize and match the right object to the right bin, however baby is in the mix.
We have an 8, 6, and 2 year old. We do a big basement playroom clean up about once a week maybe twice. The 8 and 6 year old know what they need to do but often it helps if you’re working with them. They sort of have their own corners in the basement, which does make the clean up easier. At least they know the general vicinity where to find the pieces the are looking for.
I write a mom blog here in Atlanta and we have a nice community of older moms and newer moms. They offer lots of good advice. We hit a lot of parenting dilemmas — such as expectations for responsibilities around the house. Stop by and visit us sometime at blogs.ajc.com/momania.
I’ll be back to check in your organization project – can’t wait to see what they suggest.
lvlc @ FromMomToMom @ 9:07 am
This is my way to tackled toy disaster:
http://frommomtomom.blogspot.com/2009/04/toys-toys-and-more-toys.html
But I have noticed that as he gets bigger we have been more flexible… and it does not work! We must get back in track and do it as the technique is!
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