Daily Pick Ups Maintain Order in a Large Family
is part of the Write 31 2017 Challenge.
Read 31 Days of Life in a Large Homeschooling Family for more posts.
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A daily pick up is a must if we want to maintain a certain level of neatness in our large family.
Twice a day daily pick ups
When the children were younger, I instituted two daily pick-ups: one before lunch and one before bedtime.
Why two?
Younger children play with a lot more toys with multiple parts (and legos!) a lot more than older children. And while ideally they pack up each toy before proceeding to the next one, I almost always fail to police it. So it was just easier to let them play as they will and then pack up twice a day.
And I chose those times because I like to wake up to a neat house instead of toys strewn all over. (The children and I took naps after lunch).
Part of daily routine
The twice a day pick up was built into their routines.
- Pack up → Lunch → Nap.
- Dinner → Pack up → Shower → Prayers → Bedtime.
Now that the youngest is 8, we just do it a once a day, before dinner. This is so that we can let the Roomba loose. And at this age, the mess they create is usually caused by books being strewn on the sofa and table. Usually though, most of the mess is contained on their own table. [I shall not show you a photo of the desks to respect their privacy.]
Daily pick ups ensure that the general areas of the house is mostly neat. And when everyone chips in the chore is a quick one to do. But it also means that there must be a designated place for stuff.
Maintains order and neatness
Picking up daily maintains a sense of order. The house at least looks neat and tidy. It also reduces the speed at which clutter builds up.
But to ensure that daily pick ups happen, it needs to be built into our routine, especially with small children. Also, one must follow the old adage,
A place for everything and everything in its place.
A lot of times children just chuck things all over because they have no idea where to put them. For this issue, we can help them to help us by designating places/boxes/baskets/shelves for their toys/games/books. Labelling these places/boxes/baskets/shelves is very helpful.
Of course, other times they just chuck their stuff around because of sheer laziness. And that is definitely a harder thing to deal with. Let us fight our battles one by one.
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