Can we all please take a moment to digest these shelves:
This is what I dream about. Shelves stocked and stacked neatly with oodles of art supplies, and my kids taking down the supplies one at a time, and using them appropriately. Look, I'm not trying to hinder artistic expression and creativity -- a lot of the time art is messy. I'm just saying it would be nice if this type of organization wasn't destroyed just for the heck of it!
In the interview, Lisa mentions one technique she uses for getting her kids to pick up after themselves. She tells her kids, "you put away the things you want to, but whatever you don’t put away, I’ll put it away but when I put it away, I’m going to put it somewhere where you can’t get it for a week..." I've actually tried this once before when the boys' room was a disaster. I told them that whatever was left on the floor was going to Goodwill. You really do get an idea of what they care about. Anyway, it's inspired me to do that on a more regular basis and try to weed out the toys that are just taking up space and causing clutter. I'm actually tempted to head back there with a trash bag right now while they are at school! I don't think they'd even miss whatever I threw away.
How about you -- do you have any techniques for getting kids to clean up their things?
[Images from the home of Lisa Mahar, featured in this article on NY Social Diary]
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3 comments:
This space is so you! We have a craft room that I hyper-organized last year...only to see it become a mess after a few uses. I ignored it during card season, but it may be time for a reorg!
This article was so interesting---I love the serene clean, uncluttered space with loads of room to create, ALAS she would probably never be friends with me or let her kids play with mine. Walk into my house on any given day and materialistic, over-indulgent magazines are strewn along with remote controls, hand-held games, etc. She is inspiring though---need a little does of that always. Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for making me laugh out loud! I totally thought the same thing when I read the article -- Oh, if she only saw all the pokemon et al littered about out house. She definitely inspired me to clean up and throw out...I swear they don't even know half of what they have and they sure aren't going to miss it. At least I hope!
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