Toddler mess!

[Eulalia]

My toddler (aged 20 months) of course loves making a mess of his toys. My husband now thinks he is old enough to put them away in the evening. One evening we tried and we both repeated "toy in the box" about 500 times and he put the toys away very slowly. After that effort I just put them away although he does sometimes help in a half hearted way. Another evening recently he was tired and didn't want to put them away. My husband got angry with him and he just cried. I think there is no point in forcing a child to do something he doesn't want to and wondered if he was still a bit young for this. Any thoughts? At the moment it takes more effort on my behalf (as it is usually me) to tell him/encourage him and stand over him than it is just to put them away myself.

Eulalia - I think it is good for children to join in tidying up from an early age, but it is hard to find the balance. I find last thing in the day is no time to insist on anything, as they are tired. (My boys are 22 months and 3.5). During the day if they want something new out, they have to tidy away the last thing first, and this works quite well. At the end of the day they 'join in' tidying up with me before they get stories, so the longer it takes the less time for stories. But we don't make a big issue of it, especially with the little one. I wouldn't expect the younger one to tidy up whilst I watched at this age. But he is pretty good at tidying up - mainly, I suspect, because is brother has always been very tidy and orderly, and enjoys cleaning and tidying up.

Thanks Kmg - he likes tidying up his bricks into a small bag. Perhaps I should get smaller containers rather than just one big toy tub.