AIBU To think parents should help children look after their toys

[WannaBeAMummy16]

I am a nanny looking after two children - toddler and 6 year old. The 6 year old has behavioural and learning difficulties and is on par with a 4 year old.

They had lots of nice toys for Christmas. Large extended family. Lovely things like a plastic toy kitchen, jigsaw puzzles, train set, books. Nothing overly expensive but things that people have spent time choosing for them.

A month later and the kitchen is broken, the jigsaws are missing half their pieces, train set parts are all over the house, books are ripped. The children are too young to be able to look after their own things so surely the parents should be doing it? It saddens me every time I come across something else that's broken/ripped.

I tidy up when I play with them, put things back in their boxes etc so why don't the parents??

I agree children should be taught to tidy and look after their toys. We have the box for each thing approach, sometimes things get muddled but in general its tidy. I found when everything is chaotic they don't play as they can't find anything!

When they start playschool and school they will be expected to help tidy up. Often its clear which ones do help at home and which have everything done for them.