Tidy up time!!

[Emily3]

Hi! I was just wondering what you all expect of your kids regarding tidying up of toys. I have 3 kids all around 20 months. 2 will put things away no problem, usually when I ask but sometimes on their own. The other little one literally will dump every toy bin then cry when I ask/ tell him to tidy up. I am not precious about mess.....they can make as much mess as they want, but we all must tidy up when we are finished. Anybody do anything particular about clean up time?

[Judy Trickett]

We do tidy up time before each meal. So, every kid will, and does tidy up because if they are still not finished then the meal sits on the tray until they are. I have never had to get to the point of NOT feeding them because they have never called my bluff.

Food can be a BIG motivator!

[dodge__driver11]

I do the same, or I will not allow my dck to move on to the next activity until things are cleaned up the best that they can

[Happycamper]

This sounds very reminiscent. My son would do the same at a young age. It didn't seem to improve much over the years although he did stop crying. At one point I found myself highly annoyed with my own child not doing what the others could and would do when asked to tidy. I tried coxing, making a game out of it, food, ultimatums, demonstrating and yes, loosing my temper. Nothing seemed to work for long if at all. I felt defeated and didn't understand why this was so difficult on us both. What would cause such behaviour at such a young age? Was this intentional defiance? The more questions I asked myself the more I began to understand. He was overwhelmed. Not all children have a sense of organization a feel quite overwhelmed by organizational tasks. I then started to talk to others about it an found ways to help him organize his thoughts, things, day, you name it. He is 14 now and we still need to guide him regarding organization.
All I'm saying is that we have moments in our day where we assume all children are capable of all things. Most of the time that is the case but sometimes things elude them.

I'm sure your situation will adjust with time and he'll respond positively.

[sunnydays]

Along the lines of what Happy camper said, it helps to be very specific with young children. Instead of saying "clean up all those toys", you can give specific directions like "put the car in this box". I usually give tasks I know the kids understand, like cleaning up all the mega blocks, while I clean up some of the other things. Once the blocks are done, I direct them on to something else.

[mom-in-alberta]

Yup, we clean up before we eat (so mid morning,and before lunch, and later afternoon).
I have a couple of kids that refuse, or just look at me strangely. You can tell who gets taught to clean up at home!!
I think it can be overwhelming if we just say "Clean it!"
I will give them one block or car, and tell them (or show them) exactly where it goes. If need be, I will gently lead them there. We make it a game sometimes, and see who can go "faster, faster, FASTER!!". There is also a clean up song to sing. I know that in my son's kindergarten class, the teacher had the kids to the point that all she had to do was sing the song and they started to tidy up.