When my children were toddlers I used to deem their room as clean if we could carve a pathway through the toys to make it to their beds to tuck them in at night. My two oldest children are only 11 months apart and I had to truly pick my battles about what I was willing to hunch over and clean up every day. When they were toddlers I pretty much threw in the towel on picking up after their neverending toy clutter throughout my house. It wasn’t a normal day if I didn’t nearly kill myself tripping over a toy or stepping on a Lego.

These days their room isn’t exactly a walk in the park but we’ve developed systems and places for everything. The possibility for a tidy room is definitely a possibility now. Below are a couple steps to getting kids rooms, or toy rooms, under control.

1) Be the example. I’ve noticed a direct correlation between the level of cleanliness in my room and my children’s rooms being tidy. Being the example is always that unfortunate Catch-22 part of parenting. It’s really hard to hold them to a standard that we’re not willing to live up to. As adults, we can conjur up better, more grown-up excuses, but they’re still excuses. I cringe at the idea of asking them to do something I’m not really doing myself.

2) One in and one out. Every year – twice a year – before my children’s birthdays and before Christmas time we do a clean sweep of our children’s rooms. I explain to them that we’re making room for new toys. I give them two bags to fill up. One bag for trash and the other for items they want to give away or donate. We pull everything out and sort through it all and make room for new arrivals. This is a long process and we always reward them when it’s over with something fun to keep us all on task.

3) Too much of a good thing can be too much of a good thing. We live in a time when many of us can give our children everything, and so we do. But do they really need it all? Do they take care of it when they have it? Do they appreciate it or just feel entitled to possessions? Teaching children to respect the possessions they have is the first step to knowing they truly deserve additional toys. If the bin that holds Polly Pockets or Barbies is too full you have to decide which ones to pass along and which ones to keep. Living in excess as a child can lead to dangerous adult reliance on material possessions. We’ve found it’s easiest for our children to “donate” loved items to others when they can see where they’re going. Take a trip to your local thrift store, or shelter, or send them on to younger families in your neighborhood.

4) Teach them to be organized. In order to sustain some level of organization in a kid’s room there has to be a system in place first. This may require purchasing an additional bookshelf, toy box, or other system to get the essentials in check. You can’t realistically expect young children to put things away if they don’t have the right tools to do it. Labeling bins (with pictures for younger children) is an easy way to show your children where to put things when they’re done.

5) Showering praise. I try to praise my children for keeping their rooms clean, or when they dutifully pick up after themselves when asked. Unfortunately, it’s easier to recognize a messy room and go into reprimand mode than it is to reinforce the good. Using TV or computer time as a reward for having a clean room make great incentives, but lavish praise and adoration from Mom or Dad also aids in reinforcing good behavior.

 Question: What do you do to tackle toys?