If you said to your 2yr old

[WeeClype]

"Put your toys back in your room and then you can come down the stairs"

Would they do it?

My 2 yr old DS had his toys scattered all outside his bedroom door and I kept repeating that sentence to him when he told me he wanted down the stairs. He never put one toy back! I'm trying to work out if I'm wasting my breath trying to keep the toys under control.

If the mess is getting to you, What I would do is get little plastic crates that have to be opened by you to keep his toys in, so you can control how many he ends up dumping all over the place at any one time. Maybe one little shelf or two where he can place things and reach them whenever he wants. This helps to contain the mess.

Also, if you work on a rota basis (so put two or three sets of toys out at a time, keep the rest in the wardrobe or whatever, then switch them every two weeks or so) he will get greater enjoyment and learning out of his toys than if he has to operate in chaos of toys strewn everywhere every day. Plus he gets to have 'new' toys quite often

my 2yok could and would but I would not be downstairs washing up and unable to help. washing up is not really more urgent then teaching or supervising litties imo

DS is 2.4 he'd put things away if you're with him and start with a couple yourself.
He'd understand "do you want to play in the garden? Ok, let's put toys away first" type thing.
He's been climbing the stairs unaided since 1, we took down the baby gate a year ago as DH kept forgetting to close it! There haven't been any accidents and the stairs are tile, not carpet.