This summer had been such a chaos. It’s been the first of its kinds when we have had no house help. With two kids, the story that the house would have narrated is a no brainer! We couldn’t walk around without stepping on Lego or bumping into some Tykes. Getting kids to clean-up was getting exhausting. I then remembered reading this idea by Kathy Peel called the ‘CLUTTER JAIL’ where she talked about how this worked for her family. I have tried it for some time now and I think it’s a great way for kids to remember that they need to clean-up after they are done.
It is actually quite simple. When I see some toy lying around the house for a while unpicked despite a reminder, I simply pick it and put it away in a carton impersonating as a jail. The only way the kids can get it back is by offering some bail for it. So once the toy has gone missing, the kids check the ‘CLUTTER JAIL.’
This is the learning part where we then set a bail to release the toy. The bail could be set at anything that your mind can imagine and definitely something that is age appropriate. Sometimes I get them help me to fold the clothes, sorting groceries or arranging their room.
The cluttering has reduced considerably. I still have 2 weeks of vacations due till the kids resume school and I am hoping this spell of reduced cluttering will extend forth!
Hope it works for you just as well as it did for me!
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