How to get kids to clean up their toys?

Maybe you've googled this.

In fact, many, many parents have googled this.

You aren't alone.

We struggle with this in our house, too.

My daughter, who is newly five, came to me and asked me to help her clean up her room

this week.

And when I walked in, she sighed and said, it's just too much.

Now we don't have a lot of toys, but she manages to accumulate a lot of stuff, whether it's

rocks and pine cones that she finds outside, creations that she's made out of clay and cardboard

and Lego, even though we're not vying and accumulating things on behalf of her, the stuff

still finds its way into our house.

Now although this was the first time in her life that she has put this into words by

telling me, it's just too much.

Her behavior has told me this throughout her entire life.

Rarely, will our kids be able to verbalize their overwhelm with stuff?

More often, they will speak with their behavior.

They will be able to feel the overwhelm, but they won't be able to articulate it or find

a solution.

And the result is messiness and struggling to clean up.

The age-old battle of getting kids to clean up their toys might be familiar to you.

So that's what we're going to talk about today.

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