WHY is he so messy?!

[Rouge]

Paris is soooo good, she picks up after herself, tidies her room, helps around the house. Seth on the other hand has spent the last 20 minutes tidying up all his toys and putting them in his basket... and he isn't even half way through. Every toy he picks up he inspects, comments, plays, inspects again, comments again and maybe another play then FINALLY after me nagging at him he then THROWS it in the basket. Now I can see at least another 30 toys ranging in size (small to medium sized nick nacks) strewn across my lounge room floor. I refuse to do it for him as I know this starts a bad habit so I am being as patient as possible armed to praise at every opportunity and trying to stay sane in the meantime. Please tell me they get better or I daresay by the time he's 5 I'll be doing military style inspections on his room so that he will know what TIDY is! And yes I will have no quarms in telling my son at 5 to clean up his own wee splatters in the loo, if he can't aim right he can clean it. Yes I'm hard@rsed. But I would rather his future partner not suffer as a result... In the meantime... Can you pick up the toys please? GOOD BOY! Nearly finished. Yes I know thats a dinosaur, no mummy doesn't want it up her nose. Quick, pop it in the basket. Nearly finished now come on just those last few pieces, yes thats a ball, no we don't throw at sissy. Yes thats right you are nearly finished. What a good boy. Yes thats a screw driver for Mcqueen, pop it in the basket. Oh wow you are doing a great job, I am so proud of you, what a clever boy. Nearly finished thats right, 3 more to go, 1 more now WOOHOO!!!! WTG! *bring out the streamers and balloons*

[jaspen]

Oh Cailin I am so hearing you!!!!! I have two of this breed and a third on the way and I am still at a loss. What gets me more is they more than like to help with my chores but their own toys etc are a lost cause - I have tried every trick and less I sit there and point here to here it turns from tidy up into another play which results in more mess. Sorry I don't have any wise words of advise but I so sympathise and I'll be on the watch for some new hints.

[Liz]

hee hee. Same as jaspen here.. more than willing to help with other household chores - but picking up toys? Nope!

I tend to do it and get him to help.. better than nothing I can't stand how long it takes otherwise.

I must say he's very good at packing away toys when we're out.. just never at home!

[Trillian]

Cai, I share you pain/frustration/bemusement - Lindsay is just like Paris - never have a problem with him at all, but Erin I hate to say is shocking and you know how old she is so I'm thinking she will never change. I'm just like you too in that I think they are more than old enough now to do it and if I always pick up after them they will 1 never learn to do it themselves and 2 have no respect for what I've just done by not cleaning up after they've used it. The girls share a room and I know it isn't Paige that messes it up because I cleaned it spotless a few weeks back on a Sunday and that room stayed spotless until the following weekend when Erin was home from school. So we are at the stage where we have removed ALL bar a small box of Paige's toys from their room. If she can't learn to respect her belongings by keeping them tidy then she isn't going to have them. Not sure if it was the right approach and it may cost us bigtime in therapy down the track but this is all we can do about it - yelling doesn't work, discipline doesn't work and even now she has this complete lack of caring about it all that is just as frustrating as her not cleaning up in the first place.

Sorry, that actually hasn't helped you at all has it? LOL

[Pretty Butterfly]

After going through this with all my other kids, I now tell Zavier that I'm putting them in the bin if I get there first !! He chases in front of me and packs them up quick smart!!! He'll turn around and say "no bin!!" with a big grin!! (we dont do it nasty, its done in jest in case you think i'm being cruel!)

[aussienic]

We tell the boys its either toy box or bin.. I will admit my Dh has thrown a toy out to show he is serious but it as broken but they didn't know that. We still have fights though so it didn't work

My 8 yr old as a PITA last night with picking up toys and was backchatting and carrying on.. So he got sent to his room and missed out on an Easter egg :P

[Naomi]

We have that problem too Cai, Nick is great now, cleans up his mess when asked, but Ryan is just like Seth, he has to inspect and play with everything before he puts it in his toybox, i am sick of tripping over the thousands of Elmo's that seem to be breeding in my house

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

My parents had a "if it's not tidy it's going in the bin" attitude. Didn't make me appreciate it, just made me good at hiding mess!

With DS, we make a game of it. Let's both put things away. What a clever boy doing what Mummy is doing! As he gets older, I will ask if he's able to do it all by himself or if he's still a little boy and needs help. If he makes a deliberate mess (for example, throwing the pegs on the floor) I'll tell him to pick them up. He may need help getting started, but he knows how to finish the job pretty well.

Don't know how well this will continue to work, but Ihope it does!

[LimeSlice]

mmm...Mary Poppins...where is she when you need her?

[Rouge]

Well the little tiger likes making a liar out of me. After our 40 minute cleaning session he has been tidying up like a trooper... maybe just maybe there is hope for him yet. Yeah we did the bin thing with Paris too, and it does work, but it was age appropriate, so we did discuss respect of belongings etc and instead of bin, now its those less fortunate than ourselves because they would respect what they have because they don't have very much etc etc.

[Trillian]

You just get lucky and have them in the right mood for it sometimes LOL. The frustration never ends does it?