To be overwhelmed with the amount of housework that a toddler creates?

[poshsinglemum]

I know that people say don't worry about the housework too much when the dc are young but I cannot live in squalor. I don't want a show home. I'm just overwhelmed with the amount of destruction that my two yera old creates. So far we have;
crayons on the wall, skirting board ripped off in the kitchen, poo on the lawn, torn up paper everywhere, toys scattered around, rancid carpet due to lots of spilliages etc, etc.

I love dd to distraction adn I thank my lucky stars that I have toys scattered around my house but I do find the drudgery soul-destroying at times. I do love cooking and creative things like that inc gardening but not cleaning.

With such a young child I have no time to do any repairs or rather no energy. It's a mess. My bedroom needs sorting out and the shed needs decluttering. Dd takes up all my attention and gets under my feet.

How can I keep on top of things? Most of the time I can't even go for a wee!

I'm constantly amazed at the capacity toddlers have to creat mess where you have just tidied/ cleaned.

My tips to share are:

1. Get a LARGE laundry basket. Throw everything into it when visitors are on their way (or at least everything on the sofa so they can sit down). Do same in evening when you are too tired to tidy up and need to get stuff out of sight to relax. Remove basket out of sight.

2. Keep hoover to hand (if you can bear it being around). Then you've got it to hand for spillages, but better still, if someone drops in you can say "Sorry about the mess, I was just about to hoover" then progress straight to cup of tea instead (while their child joins yours in creating further havoc...)

btw I am very impressed at those who manage to keep the poo out in the garden. We seem to have no chance of getting it in the toilet for now and I am getting very lazy throwing away pairs of pants that have got pooed in

Hahah, wait till you have two of the little buggers

We bought tons of baskets and just hide things in them when the critters pass out at night - no point during the day.

And if you have people coming to visit, clean, then take the children out for the day before so they don't have a chance of mucking it up again. Ikea is good, providing you don't buy much. Four hours killed, no mess in my house and they eat the meatballs so that's one less meal on the floor!

I wish I lived near IKEA.WMMC how can you live in your rural idyll AND be near IKEA? Are you in some parallel universe of loveliness?

Ah, it can backfire on you though. Tonight, in the three nano-seconds I left her in order to go to the bathroom to run her bath, DD (3) managed to open the washing machine, pull out the clean towels and sheets, dump them on the floor and put her dolly's t-shirt in on a hot wash (inc. the never-been-used before pre-wash programme). She was extremely pleased with herself. She couldn't 'put the green thing in the washy chine Mummy' though, because Ariel etc resides in a child-locked cupboard. Am sure downstairs neighbour was delighted with the extended spin cycle on my washing machine tonight. DD did then redeem herself by putting all sheets and towels into dryer and turning that on also...

In all fairness, you can avoid a lot of that..

We have NO crayons, felts, pens, pencils where dd2 can get them (no mean feat considering we have a 6yr old too)

We have no paper where she can get it. If she is drawing, it is controlled at the table...if she starts ripping paper it's gone & onto next activity.

We have no spillages as all food/drink is eaten at table, with the exception of water in a non spill cup.

Poo on the lawn - wear a nappy!

How on earth did your dc manage to rip up a skirting board?

And when I am busy dd is confined to the lounge room, where nothing is breakable etc so I can get on. Keeps the mess in one place.

Crikey... I look after 4 under 2 and a half,at the same time from 8-6 if they did anything like that that I would be shocked! They have their moments though.

Make your daughter be part of everything you do. My mindies learn to tidy up from a very young age, before lunch, before nap etc. They know which baskets take which toys, sometimes they get thrown all together, but hey, they have made an effort and I can re-sort later, but they get the idea.

Mess encourages mess, and if they have too many things out they have no idea of what they want to play with, they get confused then distracted. I hate it when they start to fall over and tread over toys. They know that if they want another basket out, they put one away, or which ones they can have out together.

Sounds like your little one needs some planned activities with you at certain times of the day. My littles have a lot of free play with me just keeping an eye on them, as EYFS is all about taking the lead from the child, but they need guidance.

How about getting her to help with pairing socks from the washing, sorting crayons out into the right boxes, having a cutting session and then teaching her to clear up. Getting her to lay the table, Ofsted commented in my report about just 2 year old doing just that, working out how many plates, cutlery etc is needed and placing it correctly. It's fun for them and educational.

Drinks are always at their little table, and they have to available for them all day on demand, preferably topless cups,and able to pour for themselves from 2 onwards ( Ofsted) I have a cream Berber carpet in the playroom, I put a piece of similar coloured lino/cushion floor stuff, a remnant at £5 under the table that is wipe clean. I have a huge cream throw over the sofa, that gets changed regulalry, so that they climb up on to read books, cuddle and play with the cat. They love to use the toy dustpan and brush under their table, taking turns to sweep up the mess of dropped peas and pasta!

If you start as you mean to go on, reinforcing and praising the behaviour and practice you want, they soon learn as little children love to please.

Children are only little for a short time, enjoy it, but teach her life skills and you will both get more out of her childhood without getting stressed!

It is very hard, and so time consuming, but I agree that some of this can be avoided.

Crayons and pens are a table activity only!
Food I am more circumspect about and while our carpet is pretty grubby I find baby wipes get up most messes. We are bad at hoovering, but one of those mini hoovers is a good idea.
It may seem more trouble than it is worth at this age but get DD to help with tidying up. DD is 3 this month and we are trying to get her to clear up major toys before getting others out.
Have a major clear out of toys and put some away, leave out just a small basket and rotate them, this will limit the mess.
Will she watch TV? Can you stick Cebeebies on while you spend half an hour on your bedroom? Or pick one thing each day to get done.

It is very hard with a toddler, especially when you are on your own. Give yourself a break, but just set yourself some small goals each day. When DD has gone to bed spend 15 minutes tidying up the living room or bedroom so you have somewhere nice to relax in the evening.

It is

Wowser! How on earth did the skirting board get ripped off? The only advice I can give is the following:

Crayons/ pens etc are only bought out for supervised activity.
Food is only eaten at the table when sitting down. If bottoms come off chairs, food is taken away.
Water/ milk only to be drank in kitchen, if anywhere else, then is in a non spill cup.
My toddler participates in the clearing up. If he doesn't, then his next activity doesn't happen. Toys are put away before new ones are taken out. Ikea do fab storage solutions which helps with the keeping tidy of the toys.
Toddlers love the feeling that they are helping, even getting the garden weeded and watered is doable with DS1 pottering about with his bucket and spade. When dusting I give him a cloth. When vacuuming, he switches it on/ off - plays with one of the accessories.
Have you also tried making your DD have her own responsibilities? DS1 knows the playroom and toys are part of his things, so takes pride in keeping it neat. We also have coat hooks for him to hand his coat up on and a basket where his shoes are kept - meaning he can fetch and put away his coat and shoes.

I am sure some people will think that what I do is 'kill' the fun. My brother thinks I am too strict. But I have to do what is right for me - and I dont expect to spend the day picking up after a little boy who is more than capable of putting his own things away.

Our play-dough "vanished" last week. That stuff is hideous. The old rule that demands you can not play with one toy unless the other is packed away, particularly those multiple-piece things like puzzles and train sets, if strictly enforced, keeps things tidier.

My personal hell is the vast quantity of pebbles the former owners of our house had installed out back. Toddler + pebbles = blocked drains, pebbles in kitchen drawers, in the toilet, crushing new seedlings in pots, and clogging up the hole in the grass which the washing line fits into. Had I forseen the hours wasted on pebble redistribution, we surely would have purchased a different house.

alibubbles, mistletoekisses, I wish I could hire you for a day to lick me and my DSs into shape!

But I've been inspired by this thread to tidy up the mess in our conservatory, and this morning uncovered toys I'd forgotten even existed, and we're going this afternoon to Ikea to buy some storage boxes. A new regime of tidiness and organisation starts tomorrow...!

Got 3 DCs so totally understand OP - I too have crayon on cupboard door, yoghurt on sofa etc. Main thing for me was to learn quickly from my mistakes (if toddler crayons on cupboard then is my fault for letting him unsupervised use of crayons etc). My DCs now know that "the high shelf til tomorrow" is where it will be if it can't be used properly - e.g throwing bricks at wall and I enforce it really strictly, no second cahnces or giving in to whining - they did learn quickly. Also wicker baskets or similar in every room for emergency tidy-ups (chuck everything in, sort later) and lots of throws for furniture so can wash often. Food only in kitchen at table. If having really dire day (I work FT too) then just one room clear (living room) of toys and clean(ish), and ignore rest. Sit in tidy room and drink wine. Shut doors on rest of rooms. Have a bath and an early night. Try again tomorrow!

Yesterday I had yogurt in the garden and poo in the rug, so it could always be worse....

hellymelly actually it's 30 miles to the nearest one - they sleep on the way there and on the way back hurrah!

i tend to do my clean up operation at night when ds is tucked up in bed, its the only way i've found that works. i dont do the hoovering as its too noisey but everything else gets done.

Oh and i do a mini clean when ds (18 months) has his nap in the afternoon. works for me.

Its a two and a half hour drive to my nearest IKEA now that I've moved to the BackofBeyond(TM).I do miss being able to scoff those little cinnamon bun things while DD1 went totally wild in the children's section.

You wouldn't if you knew what was in them (the cinnamon buns I mean)

I also live in BackofBeyond, but I live in the lesser known 'backofbeyondwithmotorway15minutesdriveaway'

I hate hate hate not being able to keep the house tidy (I'm a sahm with a 2.3yo and a 16wk old). I even went so far as to do myself a cleaning rota in the hope that it would help me get things done but all it's done is make me feel like a BIG FAT FAILURE cos I can't seem to even get half of it done! I suppose I should now be mopping the kitchen floor rather than MNing but I would really really resent having to give up my little bit of down time in the evenings!

We have alittle table with paper on it. I live in a tiny house which dosn't help and also as a single mum I can't do planned activities all day. Also little dd has the attention span of a gnat and has a scribble then on to the next thing. Our kitchen skirting is crap so she tears it up.
I like her to run around in the garden. She tyook her nappy off on the hot day we had hence the poop. Not ready for potty training as she lies about poo.

It's very hard when you are alone. When DH was away for 3 months my sheets didn't get changed, bath wasn't cleaned, kitchen floor unmopped. It was all I could face to keep on top of washing up/laundry/vaccuuming. I had no energy for anything else. Now he's back I at least have another pair of hands in the drudgery.

(arguably sheets only need changing and bath need cleaning often because DH is a smelly man however)

I do supervise ddrawing sessions and I get her to help with the laundry. It's so cute when she does help.

mine are 5, 3 and 1 and NORMALLY the house is a chaotic I wouldn't say they damage things but the sheer amount of "stuff" we have just gets everywhere, especially the top floor where the children's bedrooms are.
At the moment I am 31 weeks pregnant and I am supposed to be "resting" and the house has just expoloded its shocking it really is I am now panicking about there being 4 of them in a few short weeks! .

My main tip if anyone is desperate enough to take tips from me is to keep one room the designated tidy room (we have living room) so that if people come there is always somewhere not too embarrassing to see them!

This thread has made me feel better that my house isn't the only bombsite - I have friends with preschoolers who seem to keep on top but I struggle.
Last week set to sorting out dd's bedroom, just as toys were tidy and started organising clothes, toys got thrown down the stairs, as soon as clothes were organised and put away she set to pulling out the drawers and organising them into a train - obviously she had to remove some clothes first so her and teddy could sit in them! When I try to wash up she drags a chair over and tries to 'help' - get in my way and splash water everywhere. Her daddy banished her from the kitchen today while he washed the floor - she had a full on tantrum rolling on the floor sobbing 'I want to do cleaning' I can't persuade her to help - miss independent wants to do it all 'on my own'. I don't think it was so bad before I was pregnant [vague memories] I find going out as much as possible helps. I really wish I had a garden I could chuck her in, I remember when I was young if the weather was nice we were only allowed in the house for meals before bedtime - now I know why

After 'completing' my family with 3 lovely children, I had surprise twins 16 months ago. Main problem for me was the anticipation of return to worse drudgery...

My solution: back to work/sanity 3 days a week and hired someone locally to do 20 hours housework a week!!!! (works for both of us)

Restrict food to table or clear up afterwards.

No felt tips in reach. Ditto for paper crayons etc.

Cheap pants for potty training so you can bung them in the bin.

Sort toys out every month. Chuck broken bits.

I hoover every day. Stops carpets looking shite as you hoover up the syuff before it is trampled in.

Wiping down walls also a good idea. Freshens hallway.

Stairgates are also a good idea to stop them getting to those no child zones.