Originally Posted by Meeko60:
In this "child-led" world we live in...it's what's done at home...so why not at day care too?
I often hear kids make comments like "My mom doesn't make me cleanup!" or "My mom does it for me". One 8 year old child even haughtily said no when I said it was time to clean up and said "It's my choice if I want to clean up". So I told him it was MY choice to send him to time out for being sassy and disobedient!! He seemed genuinely shocked.
My rule is YOU MADE THE MESS. YOU CLEAN IT UP. To me it's just learning responsibility....but I have interviewed some parents who are shocked that the kids must clean up after themselves (some love it of course).
I insist that the toys be put away RIGHT too. Every toy has a home. Legos don't go in the bristle block drawer and cars don't get mixed in with the play food.
Do you have any pictures of how you have your toys stored? I want to make sure I can label things easily to be put back in the right spot! I once had a two year old picking up the cars, which go in a bucket, and his mom came in and made him finish picking up the other few cars as he tossed them on the shelf. The response was "Well at least they're off the floor"
I was actually mad but didn't say anything.
I was brought up being told
if you don't have time to do it right the first time, you're going to make time to get it done right the second. Meaning if I did a crappy fast job cleaning then she'd make me do it again right.