When I was speaking to Iain Messer on 3WBC a couple of weeks ago we had a great chat about kids toys (listen to the full interview here).
We discussed that when the kids are young it is perfectly normal to have toys from one end of the house to the other. Iain asked if my clients realise that is normal. I said that some Mums think about the mess a lot and that is distressing for them. On air I suggested to get the kids involved and make the storage easy to combat the problem.
Since the interview I’ve had another think about managing kids toys. I’ve come up with these tips if you have had enough of tripping over toys:
7 easy ways to keep control of kids toys
- Kids want to be where you are – don’t be concerned about creating a play room for the kids and their toys. The kids would prefer to be right under your feet where you are.
- Make only a small amount of toys accessible at one time (store others and rotate weekly).
- Make storage of toys easy for the kids to do on their own. If the kids don’t want to colour code their Lego throw it all in a box or sweep it all to the corner of the room each night so no one steps on it!
- A drawstring bag with a collection of different toys is fun to play with and easy to pack up at the end of the day.
- Ask family and friends to give vouchers or take the kids to the zoo for Birthdays and Christmas instead of giving more stuff.
- When something is broken, or missing pieces, explain to the child that it is time to thank the toy for it service (see Marie Kondo method of letting things go) and get rid of it.
- Encourage kids to pack up at least once a day to allow them to learn how to tidy-up and care for their toys.
If you need some more help with decluttering the kids toys, read my the full blog here, and if you still need some help to wrangle back control, book me here.