Do you tidy up your toddler's toys during the day or just leave it until they are in bed?

Question

Within 10 minutes of my son being up every day, my house usually looks like I've just been burgled!! He gets ALL his toys out!

I try to tidy them up when he's having his lunchtime sleep but everyday ask myself WHY when it's the same within 10 minutes of him getting up again!!

What do you do? Tidy up during the day, or just leave it until after your toddler has gone to bed?

Obviously I plan on teaching my son to clear up his own toys after himself, but he's only 15 months old at the moment, so the concept is a bit lost on him!

Answer 1

When my son was too young to clean them up himself, I always did it about 20 times a day. I will NOT be diing that next time...what a waste of time!

Answer 2

Is it really that important to you? For your house to look immaculate I mean, just let it go! Relax - the toys will just be there again tomorrow!

Answer 3

My daughter is 16 months and she has helped us clean up before bed for a month or so now.  It is part of her bedtime routine.  She knows that when it is clean up time it is time fore bed.  She mostly helps putting toys in her toy box.  She does understand and even helps sing the clean up song!

Answer 4

My daughter was just the same it use to drive me crazy! Now i keep all of her toys in little toy boxes in her bedroom then every day we bring a different box downstairs with us, i now find that i don't have toys every where i look and she actually plays with the toys rather than just throwing them about as they are different from the day before and then at the end of the day we both put them back in the box together and it doesn't take 2minutes to clear away now (my daughter is 19 months) hope this helps a bit!

Answer 5

It isn't too early to teach him to start cleaning along side of you. You will be surprised at how easy they catch on. Putting toys up becomes part of playtime. We sing "Clean up Clean up everybody help their friends, Clean up Clean up everybody do their share..."

Children play better and don't get over stimulated if they don't have access to all their toys at one time. This is what I did at my house. My sons are 1 and 3. I bought tons of plastic containers with lids. I separated all of their toys by categories such as cars, trucks, blocks etc. On the outside of the clear container I labeled it with words and pictures. We slide the containers under the bed and put them in their closets.

Now when they want to play cars we get the car container out. When they are done we put it away and get another container. My oldest now goes and get his container out without having my help.

I found when the toys were all over the house they rarely would be able to concentrate with what they were playing with because they would get distracted and go to the next toy. Now they get excited if I open a container that they have not played with in a few days.  It also helped minimize finding different toys that go together because now we keep them all together. We use to tear the house up and down looking for that one special toy.

Hope that helps.

Answer 6

i have 4 children and usually just move things to the side of the room until they r ready 4 bed then ask them to tidy up with me. i make it into a game; even my 1yr old daughter enjoys it

Answer 7

I have a 27 month old and boy does he know how to make a mess, LOL. He has a lot of his toys in the living room. He always seems to be able to get them all out and everywhere in under 30 seconds! I really don't care thats why I bought them for right?- for him to play. I usually just "tidy' up throughout the day just so no ones trips or kills themself on a building block or ball, LOL. Then I organize all his toys properly after he goes to bed. I don't care about the mess. I wouldn't worry about it and people who come over to your house should understand that you have a young toddler in your house.  And don't worry, I really don't think that there is a 15 month old out there that knows how to properly organize all his toys. Relax and have fun!!!- this is the best time...Best of Luck! :-)

Answer 8

We tidied as we went along, i'd try and restrict the amount of toys they could get out and when they appeared to be getting bored with one we'd swap it for another. I encouraged them from early on to tidy away one lot before getting out another and we have little problem getting them to tidy now they're 2 and 4.

Answer 9

My daughter is 16 months. She will pull toys out of boxes all day if she could.

If it is bothering you that much, move the toys somewhere else. He doesn't need so many as to fill the floor with.  

Answer 10

well i have two 18 month olds and they can do a lot of damage fast, i usually clean up right after i put them to bed, you can always store most of the toys in the closet and leave a few out for him to play with or you can put most of them in a tub with a lid, that should decrease the destruction of the tiny tot, you can start teaching him to pick up his toys, i usually say "pick up your toys" in a sing song voice while i do it and help my girls learn, of course they also don't get the hint yet that their toys should stay there if they aren't going to play with them

Answer 11

yeah i don't bother cleaning up after my son during the day... heck if it's been a trying day i don't always do it at night either, he's about 13 months now... in time we will also work with him on cleaning up after himself but for now i agree the concept is totally lost on him

Answer 12

Having your child put toys away as part of the play is a good way to deal with it. I did this with my older kids...worked great. I didn't do it with my younger kids and I can never see the floors during play time! We didn't do clean up as a chore though, it was always a game for them.

Answer 13

Your toddler doesn't need 100 toys.  Why not bring out a few for a week then change them the next week?  Put some away.  Some just get thrown around because he is looking for the one he really likes.

Answer 14

well i would leave the toys but if he wasnt playing with a toy after 10 or 15 minutes i would put them up and ask him to help. my son is 15 months and he understands cleaning up and putting his toys away so i see no reason why you cant start your lil one on cleaning up after himself. maybe what would help you out is getting a few containers and seperating toys into certain categories and letting your son pick one container out to play with and when he is done with that container of toys have him clean up and pick a different container. this is how i do with my two kids and it works out GREAT

good luck

Answer 15

I don't mind at all if messes are made, that's what childhood is all about!  But I really don't like to constantly trip over toys and see them lying about.  So after my 14 month old falls asleep for his morning nap, I take 5 minutes and pick up the majority of his toys.  And then again after he takes his afternoon nap.  After he's in bed for the night, I take more time and clean them all up, also then sweeping the floors and cleaning his high chair.  That only takes 10-15 mins, and it makes me feel better.  So why not?

If you don't mind the toys being out, then don't worry about it!  It's one less thing to have to do =)  

Answer 16

i started tryin to explain to my daughter when she was about 18 months old, that shes got to put a few things away before she can get anything else out, shes 23 months now and understands what i mean and even helps ( just a little bit) its still messy but not half as bad

Answer 17

my kids are a little older now but i never let them do that, toys were kept in the bedroom and were not allowed out, there was no way my house was going to look like a bomb had hit it. its not too young to teach him to put away his own toys, he can understand if you ask him to pick a certain toy up and pass it to mummy and then you put it in the box, its never to early to teach them to be responsible people. if the toys are all over the place them he has too many especially if he is only playing with each one for a few minutes. kids nowadays are spoilt for choice with toys, why not put some of them away and see how he responds. x

Answer 18

i spend the day cleaning the toys up. i dont know why i bother though. i have 4 kids.  

Answer 19

It seems almost pointless, doesn't it, lol?!  I remember at that age I usually picked them up after he went to sleep, for the most part.  I did bring the toy bins out and let him "help" clean up also.  He's now 3 1/2 and I'm still struggling to get him to clean up his own mess, he has gotten much better about it though (cleaning it, not making it, lol).  

Answer 20

well my son did that and i stopped him getting all his toys out. i made it so he couldnt get to them all and i gave him some toys to play with and then i offered him different ones when/if he wanted to change

Answer 21

Oh god I know exactly how you feel, are you sure you don't have my son?!!

LOL

I usually let him get on with it, I tidy up at naptime, and at bedtime. I used to try and tidy and get him to help, but he just doesn't get it yet so I can't see the point. After all it's only a few toys, they don't take that long to put back in the evening :)

Answer 22

LOL! Both! Some days it seems like that's all I get accomplished - lol! Some days it seems like I can't keep up with them...lol...I have been working on motivating my son to pick his toys...lol...we have managed to turn it into a fun game for him....and anything that he feels he is helping mommy with - then he is usually all for it! ;)

I should mention that my son is 3! When my son was that age (15 mo.) I did the majority of the picking up! I even had seperate boxes with certain toys in each box so that when he got tired of one set I could swap it out with a different set...lol...this helped me in regards to clean up because I would only allow him access to so many toys at a time...still a lot though...lol...now that he is 3 he has a lot more smaller toys...with extra pieces or attatchments and things...lol...it is a nightmare some days! But I have to say he does pretty good for a little kid trying to pick up after himself and even organize a little (cars have a special box, trains have their own special box)...lol....It also helps us to go right to whatever he wants to play with without having to dig into one large toy box...which he still does oon occasion..lol..it looks like a bomb went off! lol!