Having a tough time getting your young children to pick up their toys? We used to until we came up with a solution...

I just thought I'd pass this along to any parent who has had trouble getting their kids to clean up their toys after playing with them. It was such a tooth-pulling exercise before when we phrased it as some sort of chore for the kids, but a few changes of words has made all the difference.Now, we tell our kids that if they want to donate any toys to less fortunate kids to go ahead and just leave them out, and mommy and daddy will collect them later for donation. And any toys they want to keep playing with to put away. We phrase this in a very positive way and with a smile, not as a punishment, but rather as a choice for them. We even encourage them from time to time to leave some toys out for donation (they have way too many), although surprise surprise they haven't wanted to do that yet.Even though we haven't donated any toys yet, when that time comes we will have those toys left out bagged, in the car, and ready to go. We'll bring the kids along to the donation station and treat the whole exercise as a positive experience.Of course this probably won't work for everyone but if it helps just one parent then that's great via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2GxW3jy