To have a pet hate of tidying DS2's toys up all the time?

[mutha2two]

Who else finds the task of tidying up the toys mind bendingly dull? I am so fed up with sorting out the end of the day accumulation of lego bricks, puzzle pieces, small cars and all the other play aids for 3 year olds, and life just seems to short to insist that DS2 does it himself. I wish I had mild OCD to be more motivated. Anyone got some good ideas/strategies with how to deal? The discipline of 'if you take one toy out, you have to put another one away' is probably way too worthy for our household. Would love to hear from others!

He's old enough to make the effort himself at that age.

Kids normally like tidying up IME, especially if you give them lots of praise.

Generally I had a 'two toys out, two toys back' sort of rule. They never stuck rigidly to it, but would always help when it came to the tidy up.

At nursery they use an egg timer at the end of an activity, and when all the sand is at the bottom, they put the 'tidy-up music' on and everyone has to tidy up before the next activity. All the toy boxes are labelled with a big picture of the toys that go inside (Lego, soft toys, etc) so that they know where to put them. They are two-year olds.

He is certainly old enough to tidy up, you just need to start a routine and stick to it.

I put a lot of my children's toys away (in a place he can't see otherwise he nags me to get them back) and rotate them every few weeks. The joy on my son's face when he sees a toy that he hasn't played with for a few weeks is priceless. It is like he got a present! I also think that having less toys around makes him get into a toy more, he ends up getting more out of it and helps his concentration (a useful tool for when he goes to school). My son is not brilliant at put toys away either, but having less toys strewn around make tidying up easier.

Life seems to short now because he's not used to it, but if you get into a habit of tidying up with him he will learn how to do it effectively. Dd (2) was helping me yesterday and she has just started to be genuinely helpful!

We are very lucky to have a playroom, however, so most days we just kick all the crap in there and force the door shut...

As I suspected it's a case of do as I do, not as I say. There's no way round it other than to get on the floor and muck in with them, that is, if you want them to have any semblance of organisation. Thx all. I'll break out the kneepads, sorry the

At that age older one would be easily taken in by a 'tidying up race' as in she and I would both start tidying up at the same time and see who could put the most plastic tat back in the right boxes quickest. It was amazingly effective for about a year, then cynicism set in.

I only let mine have 2 things out at a time. If they want a new thing, they help to tidy up what they have finished with. So tidying at the end of the day is 2 min job.

Wow! My son went to a playdate once where he was only allowed 2 toys out at a time. Sorry but it still upsets me to think of it. Yes, the house was pristine, but at what cost? that's a sure fire way to stifle any creative play.... creation often comes from unexpected juxtapositions rather than a pre-formed idea of how something should be How can the Power Rangers save the world unless they use the Sylvanain family caravan to get to the playmobil castle to rescue the puppet princess.... or whatever.

By all means encourage them to help you put away (really specific directions help) but pleeeaaase don't limit the actual playing too much.