Joey's Responsibilities

For Easter, Joey received the Melissa & Doug Magnetic Responsibility Chart from the Easter Bunny.  I absolutely adore Melissa & Doug.  Their company manufactures high quality and durable educational toys among other things, and their prices are reasonable.  Although battery-operated toys can be entertaining and educational, we're old-school.  We prefer toys that allow the kids to use their imaginations and have amassed quite a collection of Melissa & Doug.  Joey especially loves their Slice and Bake Cookie Set and Deluxe Easel.  I have been eying the Magnetic Responsibility Chart for years and I am thrilled that the Easter Bunny decided to bring it to Joey.

The responsibility chart has age-appropriate responsibilities for children of various ages, complete with pictures.  The responsibilities vary from personal hygiene to actual chores, so I feel like we'll be able to use this chart for many years.  The chart includes reward magnets (we call them stickers) that Joey can put on her chart when she completes a task.  Right now we're not offering any incentive for completing the responsibilities (the "sticker" is reward enough), but Joey would be thrilled with a visit to the Chikin Park or baking cookies at home.  In the future we can base Joey's allowance on the tasks she completes. 

Yesterday morning, Joey and I sat down and chose her responsibilities.  She chose:  say please and thank you, take a bath, get dressed, brush teeth, put toys away, get ready for bed, and show respect.  For Joey, showing respect means listening and not hitting.  I would have liked for her to choose "no whining," but I think that it"s important for her to "own" her responsibilities.  Yesterday she completed six of her seven -- unfortunately she was not a good listener and couldn't get a "sticker" for showing respect.

Notice how all of her "stickers" are green?  It is her favorite color.  The picture below is the bottom half of the chart with the rest of the responsibilities shown. 

The chart includes two blank dry-erase responsibility magnets to write your own.  Some of Joey's future responsibilities will probably be:  LISTEN!, do not hit, let your sister sleep, and eat your vegetables!

Toys, Toys, Toys

Every year I have difficulty deciding on Christmas gifts for Joey.  When choosing gifts for children other than my own, the decision is even harder.  With all of the options available today, it's difficult to anticipate which toys will be loved and which ones will gather dust.

To make things easier for all of us, the folks at Baby Cheapskate have polled hundreds parents and compiled a list of "Toys That Get Played With."  I think that these lists are fabulous.  I think that Joey would enjoy many of the toys suggested for her age group because she has loved so many of the toys on the lists.  I also like that so many of the toys on the lists are not battery-operated and that they encourage children to use their imagination.

Here are links to the Toys That Get Played With 2010:

Toys That Get Played With:  6 to 12 Months
Toys That Get Played With:  13 to 24 Months
Toys That Get Played With:  25 to 36 Months
Toys That Get Played With:  3 to 4 Years
Toys That Get Played With:  4 to 5 Years

I hope that these lists will help you if you're having difficulty finding the perfect gift for a child.

The War on Toys

I am frustrated.

I am frustrated by my messy house.  It's not that I don't clean.  I clean up a lot of messes.  Every day.  I clean up messes that I've already cleaned and then clean it up again.

Today each one of Joey's toys was out of place.  Every block, every tea cup, every piece of Mr. Potato Head.  Toys were scattered throughout my house and yard.  And it wasn't just toys that were all over the place.  I was finding kitchen utensils in the beds.  Dirt in the bed.  Birdseed in the bed.  Books and movies all over the living room floor.  Outside toys knocked over.  And to top it off, Joey was having a "naked day" and would not sit on the potty.  Today's mess was not the kind that you can pick up in a few minutes.  This girl can trash a house quicker than a frat party.

It sounds like I should probably do a better job of entertaining my two-year-old.

Instead I instituted a war on toys.

Months ago, in an effort to be more organized, I bought several clear plastic bins for Joey's toy shelves.  I sorted her toys by type and then half went into the closet.  Every few weeks I would rotate her toys out.  Kids don't tend to miss their toys when they're out of sight, and the toys seem new again when they're put back into the rotation.  But after a while she caught on to my ruse and wanted all of her toys to be accessible all the time.  So today when Joey emptied each and every bin onto the floor, I was compelled to reorganize.  Half of her toys are again neatly organized in the closet. 

While I was sorting through the toys I had a trash bag handy...you know, for all of those "crap" toys.  I took no prisoners.  I threw away (recycled, thank you) old plastic bottles that Joey liked to play with in the bathtub.  I tossed Happy Meal toys.  Paint swatches.  Bubble wrap (where did that even come from?).  Broken toys.  A broken-beyond-repair book.  Why did we still have these things?  I got rid of all of the non-toys, such as spent paper towel rolls and Mardi Gras beads (strangulation hazard?).  I felt so wasteful for throwing so much in the trash, but it was junk!   

I should make it clear that I don't think there's anything wrong with kids playing with empty cardboard boxes or peanut butter jar lids.  Non-toys are great for fostering a child's imagination.  But once the kid is done with it, throw it out.  Do not put it in the toy box.  It's lost it's luster.

My house is half-way clean now.  I'm sure that it will be back to normal by tomorrow.