'Bye bye baby!"

I love productive days. While I baked I cut hair and showered our children one after another. Cooked dinner then headed into our daughters bedroom. Not only do I love productive days, I love organization. For awhile our daughters room started looking like piles of toys. Every time I walked in, I thought, "This looks like the beginning of hoarding" For both our daughters they do have special needs which makes it harder for them to clean, organize and grasp the concept on how to clean their room. So when asked to clean, piles started. So after dinner while our girls were both bathing in different bathrooms, I decided it was time for me to organize. My husband just finished building extra shelving in their room and in our little boys room. The easiest way to start is to unload everything into the middle of the room. From there, start organizing different piles. I had baby doll piles, stuffed animals, Polly pockets, barbies, toy food to baby clothing and barbie clothing piles. Most importantly a GARBAGE pile! There is no need to keep a doll with missing limbs, pieces of what looks like a toy and stuffed animals with no eyes! The picture to the left in the hallway is the dump pile. The picture to the right is the new improved toy area where their books are on one shelf, perfectly healthy dolls on another, their toy food, microwave and miscellaneous items on the lower shelf. Another part of their room has the barbie house, the Polly pocket area and their dressers are free for hair brushes, clips and headbands. This took me sometime going through absolutely everything. When something hits the garbage pile, you never look twice. Once gone, gone. Our daughters had an extra long bath and once out they were surprised! They were not upset about any missing items. They wanted to play. I didn't blame them because before they didn't know what they had at the bottom of their piles. It was like Christmas came early. They were happy, I was relieved. My husband was looking through the boxes in the hallway asking me, "What's wrong with this?" "We can fix this?" "Sigh"......I explained to him that you can't fix a horses leg without the leg and who wants a teddy without any eyeballs? I proceeded to show him their room which changed his outlook on the goods going to the dump. We have progress! Now it's going to be a daily repetitious battle teaching our daughters the right way to clean. (No piles) Pick a toy, play, put back the toy, then pick another. It teaches respect for the item, it teaches organization skills and that there is a place for everything. With our children starting in their bedroom, it will help them in their future with a whole house! Our home if you haven't been here is organized, clean and I truly believe what a child grows up with can result in a continued cycle for their future. Adding of course everything in a child's life, don't get me wrong - this is just one little area of all areas we as parents need to commit too while raising our wonderful children.