Love me? Love my rituals!

"A place for everything and everything in it's place". That is a house rule that kept my house neat and tidy.

When my children were younger, I used to throw their toys in the dustbin when they did not return them where they took them out from. Of course, prior to that I have warned them that I would do just that should I find any lying around the house after play.

I gave them LOTS OF HINTS about the fate of their toys though. That will lure them to check the dustbin in the hall to see if there are any toys to save. When they are older and realized the trick I have been up to, they became complacent. They know that Mummy is not a wasteful person and will not allow good toys to be discarded. So, I hit on Plan B. I gave away a collection of mini cars from Hot Wheels stored in a car shaped container. Poor Calvin but that works, alright!

I believe that being tidy is a good habit to cultivate and I hope that they will display the same mindfulness when they play in their friends' home. I am sure that this will be a nature that their better halves will one day appreciate.

I also keep a basket in their room for misplaced items, like loose pieces of toy that they have missed keeping; that will be lost forever if I were to put them in the dustbin. That way if there are any missing parts from toys they are currently playing with, they can always look into the basket to make them whole again. I always remind them that there is no value to any incomplete set of toys.

I feel that my children should be responsible for storing their own stuff. Once you start picking up after them or doing things that they should be doing themselves, they will become untidy and will always be asking you where this or that stuff is without trying to locate it. The worst thing is that they will not be initiative in getting things done.

I picked this idea from my mother. Whenever her children asked her for anything, "It's in my pocket!", is her answer. I hate hearing that as a kid but I could not resist using that phrase now and then with mine.