Picking up Toys After My Two Year Old

I'd just keep trying with her, as patiently as you taught her the first time to clean up,and let her know why it's important. It sounds like, because she is now watching you be a Mommy, and you are her role model, she's dealing with the new addition to the family in her own way. She's probably just as stressed as you are,and even though it's hard,I know too, it will pass , she will adjust, and the Three of you will be fine. Always remember to breathe. And Enjoy!

We have wooden floors so we had a childs size grocery cart. We encouraged our child to use it to pick up her toys with and then roll back into her room.

Clean out broken or unplayed with items as often as possible. Do this when your child is not around.. Rotate toys.

Have a place for your child to return their toys, baskets, shelves, toy chest, closet. Telling a child to clean up their room is too vague.. You may want to say, put away all of your toys with red on them. Put away all of the puzzles. etc.. this is a fun way and helps them focus on the items rather than the entire room.

We pick up our toys together, I ask her to help me and usually we sing the "clean up song" while we're at it.
They cannot do it all by themselves at this age, but getting them involved models good behavior and sets them up for better organization down the road.

Good luck!

I haven't read the other answers so hope I don't copy. I would get a basket to keep in the living room. one with a handle so she can just put them there each day and at the end of the day help her carry it to her room.

on a separate note. We had what was called a Saturday box when my boys were little. Whatever didn't get put away was put into the Saturday box and they didn't get it back till Saturday.

another separate note. We kept a cookie sheet for my kids Lego's play-dough etc. they can be very creative while keeping the stuff in one place on the table. that way baby won't accidentally swallow something small.

big wide round laundry hamper baskets work good for toy catch alls. We kept one in the den and that corner is where all the toys would end up. Although I always considered my home clean and orderly, since I had kids it was always acceptable to have a basket of toys in the living area, around the clock. They had to learn to put the toys into the basket when it was time to clean up - much easier than having them walk them one by one to their room. Once in a while I would take the basket to their room and move the toys to their shelves and the process would start all over again.

I know you don't want to put toys away, but, why not rotate them? Put one set out for a week, then rotate it to another set. This way kids don't get bored. Also having a limited selection is NOT a bad thing- it teaches them to focus on one thing rather than constantly being distracted by a ton of stuff.

We try to do the "one in one out" thing here. Also, I noticed that we need to go through the toys every few months and "weed' out the ones that are baby toys, broken, or otherwise unsuitable. I've found that by limiting the # of toys, they are more creative than before.

You are never to young (so long as you are walking) to clean up after yourself. I have two girls of my own and also ran an in home daycare All of my kids picked up after themselves. Biggest thing you can do is get good storage. Stay away from toy boxes. Toy boxes are the worse type of storage. Everything gets dumped in to the toybox and then when they are looking for something everything gets dumped back out so that they can find it. Look for storage that has individual bins. Ikea sells some great pieces that are not pricey. Then label all of the bins(this is also good for early reading skills). For books and puzzles try to separate them. Have one bookcase for puzzles/board games and one for books. I would like to tell you to limit her to one toy in the living room at a time, but that's really not reasonable or very good for the imagination. As far as duplos & blocks go, they work well together, add a Barbie in to the mix and she has a house. Try to limit her to three things out at a time (unless she can give you a good reason why her castle needs something more). Puzzles and board games should be out one at a time because of the pieces. Once you make her clean up,with you, EVERY SINGLE TIME, she will understand that cleaning up a little at a time is the way to go. It really does work, but you have to be consistant. I have had 5-6 kids in my house every week, 5 times a week and they always cleaned up better at my house than they did at home. Why? Because I did not give them a choice. It was expected from everyone. If someone was really stubborn on a certain day, then they did not get a snack/treat after lunch or if they were stubborn in the afternoon, they did not get an afternoon snack/treat. They knew the rules and once they saw that I was not giving in, they co-operated every time. My youngest is at home alone most of the time now, so when she doesn't want to clean up, she has to take a nap. She is 4 and doesn't like to nap anymore so that makes her crazy when I give her that consequence, so she cleans up right away. Trust me, that only happens one time. Take away something...that means something to them... consequences work, you just have to know what to use based on what your daughter loves. Start now and she will have good habits to pass on to her brother when he is old enough to play with toys. As far as worrying about her playing in the same room as her baby brother, give her a 5 minute warning when it's going to be his tummy time and that way she knows it's going to be time to clean up & then she can either stay with you or go to her room and play. Good luck, little things make a big difference!

I would encourage her to be mommy's helper and when a certain number of toys are out, ask her to substitute ie put one away and take one out. The good news is that this too will pass and in a few months or a year she will be much easier to pursuade to do things. 2 and personal autonomy are so lovely and challenging :) But 3 can be completely different. Enjoy the imaginary ride!

When my grandson reached that stage, we instituted a rule that only one toy at a time be brought out. We also helped him (several times a day) to clean up the stuff already lying around as if it were the most fun we could possibly have, and would cheerfully sing our clean-up song:

Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up;
Everybody everywhere, everybody do your share!
(Make up your own tune and repeat until the job is done.)

Attitude is everything, at any age. If cleanup is just an integral part of keeping life fun, safe and organized, there is no need to see it as a separate, objectionable task. Yes, it's draining to have to keep helping our little ones learn essential tasks. The repetition can feel oppressive; UNLESS we remember why we do it and that this is the reality we chose.

Of course, we can do this the "usual" way, too, with rewards and punishments, charts, yelling or nagging, begging, arguments, constant annoyance and disappointment, teaching our kids that work is unappealing…

I agree she should only be allowed to pull out whatever toy(s) she is currently playing with. Whatever she is finished playing with must be put away before she pulls out the next!

It's really hard to stick with, but consistency is key! We are having trouble with our 4 year old keeping her room clean. Last weekend I helped her clean up her room completely. Then Monday when it was close to time for bed, I told her she must clean her room. She refused. I turned off her TV. She still refused. It was an awful battle! Yet she never cleaned her room that night. She never got her TV back on that night either, or anything else she asked for! Then last night, when we got home she ate all of her dinner, then asked for TV. I told her she needed to clean up her toys in her room before she watched TV. She just said "OK!" and ran to her room & started picking them up like it was her favorite thing to do! I'm thinking, "where was this child last night?" haha!

So, find out what consequences will work for your daughter at her age. Spanking never really worked with my daughter. Most of the time she laughed at me! But taking her TV away really gets to her. Perhaps if your daughter starts dragging in a new toy, you can take it away from her until she has put away the other toys first.

Rotate them in groups. Put away some things. You will organize her not limit her.

It could be an age thing. My daughter used to be so good about picking up her stuff and lately she does not want to. She will be 2 in a couple of weeks. Another thing is that she could be "marking her spot". A friend's child did this when my first were little. Whenever we would visit her, he would bring out all of his things and not put anything away. But when we would not visit for a while, he didn't do it. Try to get her to help pick things up and see if she tends to do it more when the baby is on the floor as well.

Whenever my 3 1/2 year old starts taking everything out, I make a rule that for every 1 toy he takes out, he has to put 1-2 toys away. It certainly helps with what he decided to take and leave out.