breakdown when cleaning up

[MommaLura]

Why is it that my ds (2) has a breakdown every time we try to clean up? He managed to completely destroy the living room, dh is NO help and then when dh finally does clean up, ds looses it. Any ideas how to make it less "traumatic"? I'm going nuts!

[Surfacing]

[coryy]

do you give him adequate warnings that play time will be ending (10 min, 5 minute, one minute?) Do you make him put one thing away before moving on to the next? Esp. at two, i found those were the most helpful things to do for MY sanity.

[coryy]

Also, my kids would focus and play and play and play....and especially if they had just mastered a new skill/toy, they would hold out and not stop playing until LONG after they had outlasted their patience, and their blood sugar!!! then their mood would crash and their focus was gone. I found I had to watch carefully to make sure that play wasn't so engrossing that they skipped quiet time or snack times. I did find that my children, while happily playing, thrived when I added in breaks and structured rest times. Otherwise the world was just too interesting a place to stop for eating and sleeping!

[prancie]

Well, are you saying that ds is supposed to help clean up and he loses it? If that were the case I'd say that you are asking something that is age inappropriate. If he breaks down because you are cleaning up his "masterpiece" then maybe you should organize something else in another room for him to do or wait until he goes to bed.

And why do you require your DH to do the clean-up? This sounds super-stressful. Maybe your DH could do something with your ds while you clean it up.

[ellairiesmom]

make a song out of it...

nak

didnt get to read all posts but i wanted to share what has been working for us to make clean up easier, less stressful etc. it's the only thing that gets dd to help clean up currently & not freak out when it's time to take a break to clean something up before moving on to something else...

we sing a clean up song-i typically make it up to go along with what we are cleaning up at the moment. it gets her to listen & pitch in which also means she isn't adding to the mess or freakin out.

i admit-it ended up being to the tune of the barney clean up song...we never watched much barney but i have seen it & knew the song.

[twinergy]

I keep a few open mostly open ended toys within reach and the remaining are up on a shelf where they can see them but need to ask to use them. We put away the shelf toys when we are done using them, and before getting the next toy down. My twins are almost 2.5 and they now remind me to put the shelf toys back in their place. This system also helps me keep track of which toys they are playing with and helps with toy rotation.

I also like to say “let’s make room to play” instead of “let’s clean/pick up.” When the play tunnels come out we do a lot of picking up because we really need the room. We have a step 2 slide that we connect a whole network of tunnels to. It looks like a huge obstacle course has taken over our living room. The kids like to slide down “like a penguin” head first on their bellies, then crawl through the tunnel track. Great fun and it helps wear their energy down. (I don’t recommend this activity within an hour of bed or nap time.) Of course when we are done with the tunnels we need to “make room to play” again. Another tip, the tunnels compress and store easily under our couch or other furniture raised up from the floor.