Toy Jail

Look at that body language. It's saying, "I'm devastated and I have the worst mommy ever for putting my favorite toys into toy jail!!!!"

Let's rewind a little bit. Say, a month or so. We had been fighting for weeks to get Peanut to be more responsible and pick up his toys on his own. He would argue, pitch fits, whine, and try to talk us into helping him clean up his mess. Finally, I SNAPPED slightly lost my temper and proceeded to get the box of trash bags from the kitchen. He sat dazed while I pulled out the first bag. Once it dawned on him what was happening....  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Grabbing on my clothes, screaming, throwing himself on the floor. I filled up three trash bags full of his junk that he refused to put away and took them out to the garage. Thinking he was a pretty smart little dude, I told him that if he started cleaning up on his own, I wouldn't "throw away" any more toys. I ended up collecting two more bags of toys. (Um.....maybe he has too much stuff if I was able to collect 5 trash bags of toys???) It took him at least an hour to fully calm down so we could discuss what had happened. I admit....probably not my finest mothering move. I'm still waiting for my "Mother of the Year" plaque to arrive for this episode. It took about a month for me to bring back the toys. He wasn't completely without toys. There were a few odds and ends left behind that survived my rampage. Plus, he got very creative and his favorite toy during this time was a long cardboard roll that he used as a sword (See, I was really just trying to jump start his creativity!).  

During the month where his toys were "thrown away", I came across the idea for toy jail on Pinterest. We went to Target and got a clear tub to use as jail. I figured a clear one would be better so Peanut could see the toys that were incarcerated. I explained that any toys left out after he went to bed, they would be jailed and he would have to do work to get them back. He seemed excited about this, which meant he really didn't grasp the abstract idea of toy jail and he needed to see it in action . He was good about cleaning up his toys....until last night. I gathered up the things he left laying around and locked them up!

I knew he would be upset when he saw his two favorite toys in jail- his light sabers (or savers, according to him). Peanut found the toy jail this morning, hence the first picture of the post.  

Once he settled down, I let him choose his chores he needed to complete to bail his toys out. Actually, there are some active "fun" things he could do as well. Here's what he picked....

Eventually, it'll be a chore per toy. But instead of making him do six separate things this first time, I just had him do three. His first job was to jump up and down. He loved it!

Next came dusting. He had never dusted before, but once I told him what to do, he actually enjoyed it! Notice Lucky supervising.  

Last came sorting laundry. No pictures here. Didn't want everyone to see the mountains of laundry I had to do, plus any unmentionables that may be visible in the different piles!  

As Peanut completed each task, he got two toys out of jail. By the end, he was cheering because he had freed all of his stuff. He is really a good helper, once you get him motivated, and he enjoyed helping Mommy out. I figure after a few weeks the fun factor will drop off and he just won't care enough to want to free his toys. At that point, I'll add the final rule for toy jail- any toy not set free after a week will be taken to Goodwill!

My verdict on toy jail- two thumbs up!