One Tip Wednesday

I nearly forgot to post a One Tip Wednesday today. I've switched my work days around this week to take my boys to CMOM with our church group and I've thought it was Tuesday all day! But after going to church tonight, I'm feel a little more back on track.

So, a quick One Tip Wednesday. All moms with small kids know that there is a constant battle in every house. It's the battle between the mom who likes the clean house and the toys who like the floor. I've posted before about how we store our boys toys, but in all reality - those toys have to somehow get put there.

We have one very strict rule in our house - ALL the toys must be put away EVERY night. No exceptions. When my oldest was younger and the only one, I was a little more relaxed on this rule, but after the baby came and I was walking through the dark house often at night, it became a very important rule. This concept seemed like such a no-brainer for me, but recently when talking to some other parents about this issue, several of the parents were amazed that we cleaned up the toys every night. They admitted that most nights they just make a trail through the messy rooms and clean up every few days.

But it truly became a safety issue and for the last 21 months, we've always cleaned up everything from the floor before bedtime. Now, it is such a habit in our home, it's not something we even think about, we just do it. And when I say WE, I really mean THEY. The boys must pickup their toys. Obviously Tyler gets a little help from us and usually so does Samuel. And I'll be honest, sometimes it's a little bit of a battle. But it's important to me for them to learn to pickup after themselves and not to wake up every morning to toys all over the living room or messy bedrooms. It's a simple little thing that keeps the chaos under control in my house.