It's In the Genes

Organization must be in the genes somewhere, 'cause my 9 year-old daughter has the gift. It has been passed on to the next generation!

For most of the kids' lives I have struggled with getting them to clean up after themselves. Only my oldest was diligent about tidying up after playing. She's a natural organizer, and being the oldest, quite eager to please her clean freak of a mother.

I was quite frazzled with the children yesterday. The kids and I spent 2 days last week cleaning the playroom after Hurricane Lillian (my 2 year-old) went through there; everything (shelves, chairs, toys) was turned over and dumped into the floor. It was a huge mess, and therefore a huge task to take on, but we got it done.

The only problem with cleaning the playroom and reorganizing it is that it's just going to end up messy again. That's why we put it upstairs above the garage (so I wouldn't have to see it unless I purposefully went up there!) So anyway, the boys and Lillian messed everything up again, despite Camryn's efforts to control the clutter and get everything put back when they were done playing. She was frustrated, and so was I. We just couldn't get the boys and Lillian to commit to cleaning after they played.

After threatening to take away the toys in the playroom if they weren't cleaned up appropriately, I was at the end of my rope. Good thing Camryn knows how to tie knots. She came up with a brilliant solution, all by her 9 year-old self.

Her answer?

Centers.

Just like the boys and Lillian have at school.

She's a frickin' genius!

Now in our playroom we have a car center, a kitchen (home living) center, a baby center, a train center, etc. Somehow this has made it easier for the kids to clean things up and put things back when they're done. Now they know where things go, and they happily play together. There is no screaming at clean-up time.

And the playroom is clean.

My daughter deserves a medal.