7yr old leaving atrail of toys behind her......

[miku]

am I unreasonable in expecting her to be able to tidy up behind herself???she has just come out of the bath, and left two towels behind her........aah!

With regards to toys and stuff i know loads of kids who are 2 / 3 years old that ( after a gentle nudge) will put their toys in a toy box. So a seven year old i would say should definately be doing this. I have three kids and the youngest is the worst with leaving stuff in the bath whereas the others have been clearing up after themselves a lot more.. Just spend the next week being very repetitive with her and cut down on the amount of toys if she is finding it overwhelming to put away.

I have a 7 year old and she would leave a trail of destruction in hew wake if i let her. When she asks if she can get something out to play with i tell her that when she has finished she must put it away before she gets anything else out.
She has 15 minutes before bed to go tidy her room, I take a bin bag up stairs at bed time and if she hasnt tidied it away it gets put in the bin. ( ive only had to fill the bag once) She knows that i will do it so things are put away.
Things like cups and towels, as long as they are put into the relevent rooms i dont worry about that too much
claire

It's a battle well worth fighting - yes, at 7 she's old enough to take some responsibility. And old enough to understand that it's not fair to make you have to work harder clearing up after her. I'm still fighting the battle - it's all a bit relentless but they're starting to get the message.

My 8 yr old dd is like this too,we are on the case but its really hard work as she forgets what you have said.She even used to toss her toothbrush into the bath after brushing her teeth!She has to put toys away before getting new ones out and since we decorated her room she keeps it nicely,at the moment we are working on her not just chucking everything on the floor eg coat gloves scarf crisp packet.im embarassed it got this far she is my 4th child,where did i go wrong.

She's my only one, and im a single, and I guess i get bored of 'nagging'.......and clearing up in general!
@ledkr-you have done well....cant be on the case all the time!thought she would have had older siblings keeping her in line tho'!
I talk to dd about we both have to look after the house and each other-she just seems so distracted all the time, and i DO seem to be a tirade of nagginess!!!ahh!

I don't think that she is deliberately leaving stuff around in a 'can't be asked to pick up' kind of way.

I'm sure there's a phase (which seems to last years) when children simply forget an object once it is finished with. Coats get left by the front door, towels on the floor etc. etc. In fact some days I'll ask my 7yo DD to brush her teeth, she'll walk out of the room disappear for 5 mins and then return without having done her teeth because she forgot that was what she went to do.

I'm hoping that gentle reminders (with occasional rocket) will eventually win through.