Now that it is summertime, involve children in decluttering the house.
They can sort and save school papers that have collected from the year (or throw them away). One way that I handled all those noodle-covered construction paper gifts that my children brought home was a large plastic tub.
At first, items would be displayed on the refrigerator but as they were replaced, they went into the tub. At the beginning of summer (before any
sleepovers could begin) my children were tasked with sorting through the tub and choosing 10-15 items they wanted me to save. (A leftover school binder fitted with plastic sleeves worked great for this.) Everything else had to go to make room for the next school year.
Another chore was to clean out drawers and closets and donate clothes that no longer fit. This extended to books and toys they no longer wanted to read or play with.
Everyone benefits from a clean space. Sometimes my children would dig in and find things they forgot they had. They would play for hours with toys that had been pushed to the back of the closet or under the bed, forgotten.
Leave a Reply