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Toy Clutter: Should You Confine Playtime?
April 14, 2009 at 7:19 AM by Cafe Cynthia - Comments (19)
Photo by AdrinaBabyMama
You can't enter a single room of my house -- even the bathroom -- and not find some kind of toy there. As often as I go around relocating all the little figures, cars and dolls to their proper homes (the toy baskets, my kids' rooms), inevitably they always find their way out again.
As I type this I spot three plastic Backyardigans figures on my nightstand and a piece of plastic race car track on my bedroom floor. Moving to the kitchen, I see several stuffed animals crammed into a corner, a sandbox mold balancing atop a plant pot on the window sill, and a doll outfit in the fruit bowl.
In my dining room there are several balls under the radiators, a Play-Doh Ice Cream Maker in my China cabinet, a pair of hot pink whistle lips from a grab bag right in the middle of the napkin holder.
Sure, in an ideal world, I wouldn't want this. I hate clutter and I don't enjoy picking up toys all day long. But this is the least of my worries right now. And my husband could care less, too.
ktina11 has the opposite problem -- her husband is a neat freak. The first thing he does when he comes home from work is go around picking up her boys' toys from the living room floor. He doesn't think they belong there; children should play with toys in their rooms, he says.
"I feel they need to have more space," said ktina11, who was curious what the toy rules are in other homes. "I agree that our bedroom is off-limits, but I think the kids should be able to spend time in the living room."
The bulk of moms answering ktina's question in the Toddler Moms group feel like me -- their toddlers play wherever mom is at the moment and they are allowed to bring their toys along.
Chandra034 says her toddler has both bedroom toys -- big contraptions or annoying gadgets she doesn't want to listen to all day -- and quieter and smaller downstairs toys -- trucks, books, and cars.
Another mom, nicolea86, tells her boys that they can bring one toy in the living room at a time, but before they can carry out more they have to put the first ones back.
And TaterNJo0sMommy says: "I allow them to bring toys into other rooms, but we have an agreement that if I have to pick up their toys, they will not be allowed to bring toys to another room the next time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it's not healthy for a child to be stuck in one bedroom all day, no matter how big or what you have in it."
++Are certain rooms off-limits for toys in your house? On a scale of 1 to 10 (the worst), how crazy does toy clutter make you?
FILED UNDER: discipline, play, toys
Comments:
my son is 16 months old and he toys can be whenever he wants to play.
No rooms are off-limits in my house - it's too small to limit him to his room upstairs, but he'll often choose to play there. But he is responsible for picking up his toys when he's done. When playing in the living room and he goes from one toy to the next, I remind him to pick up the first before he can start playing with the second. It's done, and then he's playing with the next toy. On big messes, when we've both been playing, I help him clean up. I was so proud of him the other day because his room had toys all over the floor before Church on Saturday night. On Sunday, when I told him to clean up his room, he was done in 20 minutes and everything was back exactly where it belonged. Truth to tell, I have more clutter than he does. He knows I try to clean up all the paperwork, but it just keeps growing...he's better about it than I am! But we both do our best to limit it.
My children have to play with their toys in their room. We have a small living space and even a tiny mess appears to be huge so for the sanity of all, we confine their toys to their bedroom. We aren't having any trouble with it.
i have a 22 month old and she throws and drags toys out in every room but i don't mind, it doesnt bother me and i am a neat freak as well go figure having a child is the best thing that has ever happened to me and i love it. I am going to enjoy her as much as i can cause she is the only one. i cant have any more.
When I was pregnant my hubby said there would be a lot of rooms off limits to my daughter and her toys. She is now 2 and has taken over the entire house! I have even given in and put toy baskets in a corner of our living room, sun room and computer room. Makes an easier clean up for me!
I would say toy clutter is about a 7 on the drive me crazy scale!
My room will be off limits once my son is old enough to understand that but he has most of his toys in his room and a bucket of toys in the living room, toys in the bathroom for playing in the tub, no toys in the kitchen because we don't play in the kitchen. He is allowed to play with whatever whereever as long as it's all picked up at bedtime
My son plays all over the house. Our home is a little on the small side so I don't mind him taking his toys to other places to play. My house does end up looking like a tornado went through, but oh well, I have a 2 year old boy. When the clutter gets to be too much for me then I just go through and pick it all up - sometimes my son helps, sometimes he finds a toy he forgot about and plays instead. Usually hubby is made to help me...LOL
Me and DH don't care much where our son plays, as long as he is happy. He isn't allowed to play in our room or the kitchen, because our room is off limits, period...and the kitchen has the litter box, yuck. He is only allowed to play with his bathroom toys in the bathroom...so, he is pretty much allowed anywhere but our room and the kitchen.
We have totes with the toys caterogized, the train stuff in one, the little people in another and they are stored in the corner of the living room and their bedrooms. If they want to play somewhere else they drag the whole tote and pick up the toys and drag the whole tote back to it's rightful place when done. Do I have to remind them, yes especially the 2 year old not so much the 4 year old, do they miss a small toy once in a while, yes, but for the most part they can play wherever they want.
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No rooms are off limits however, I expect my DD to help pick up the stuff in the rooms around the house other than her own or the play room. I cannot stand toy clutter, I would say on a scale of 1-10...I am an 8 with how it drives me crazy. If dd's playing with it, it doesn't bother me...but if not...it's got be put away..ASAP!
Momof3cuties Apr. 14, 2009 at 7:58 AM