After my post on organized the art supplies last week, Shannon asked me if the boys to put their supplies away in the tackle box because her girls wouldn’t over the long haul. I pasted my reply below.
Yes, actually, which is why I started putting everything in boxes. It�s key that you figure out your kid�s organizational style. Mine like compartments, which I figured out last year when I made the battery boxes, and it�s why I moved all their Legos to those clear boxes. I think they feel less overwhelmed by the little compartments? Like the symmetry and order? They know where the battery box is, they use it religiously, and it gets put away. Same with the Legos, though I have to prod them about that because it�s more work. Someone mentioned yesterday that she stores all her sons Beybaldes in the Bey Stadium. That never worked for us. They ended up on the closet floor in the general vicinity of the Bey stadiums, and when they wanted to bring their Beys over to a friends house, it was a nightmare trying to find them.
Pokemon baseball card binder sleeves? Miserable failure. Shoes basket in entryway? Miserable failure. Giant crafting drawer I did last year? Miserable failure. I�m learning as I go what works with them.
The shoe basket from last year turned out to be a miss. Basket, bins, large containers: they are all bad ideas when it comes to Mikey and Nico. They function best with structure and order because it balances their natural tendency to upend a room like a snow globe. Just yesterday Mikey’s teacher told me his desk and general area is the messiest–by far–in the entire class. When I brought it up to him he got upset and said he didn’t understand how the rest of the class managed to keep the piles underneath their desk so neat.
I told her to wait until she gets Nico. She hasn’t seen messy.
Notice the scissors laying there on the ground waiting for a piece of paper to cut.
So the large basket was a bad idea. It was an invitation to toss in items that had nothing to do with shoes. When I emptied it yesterday I found among the shoes a homemade Jesus sign; a yardstick; trash; Beyblades; a toy shotgun; a light saber; Easter grass; a holster; dirty socks; a badminton birdie; army men; Pokemon cards; paper; Mad Libs; action figures; an old baseball mitt; and a velvet bag filled with chess pieces and authentic fossils from the Smithsonian.
When Nico saw the velvet bag he said, “Ohhhhh, I remember that day!”
Really? Because I don’t. I’m trying to picture Mikey and Nico playing chess and looking at fossils, maybe taking in a Merchant Ivory movie marathon on PBS while classical music plays in the background, but the scene isn’t coming together.
I made quick work of everything by throwing away almost all of it. The three pairs of shoes in the SHOE BASKET went to the boys’ room. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with this basket in the future, but yesterday I tossed in their backpacks and called it good.
A bad mitten? Is that a relative of a naughty glove? How about badminton! In other news, I received a package yesterday from an ebay seller and she had padded it with newspaper. Being curious, I rifled through the papers to see where they are from and it’s the SB Sun. As I’m reading it I see the Inland Empire Headliners. So now I know where the Inland Empire and you are!!! Quite interesting.
Hah, I edited the post. Spell check and having one eye on the boys doing homework didn’t work out so hot.
By any chance were those scissors some of the ones you were looking for?
For some reason the first shot of the shoe basket with the Jesus sign so prominent cracked me up! :)
Nope! Just another random pair of scissors.
Surely someone has written a book to help us evaluate our children’s organizational styles. Is it related to their love languages?
I’m kidding, and I’m not. :) We have nearly the exact same shoe basket, and it has changed my life. We have a hall closet, and it has nice shoe shelves, but not enough for five people’s shoes, boots and slippers. Plus, opening the door and putting shoes on the shelf is too many steps for my children to remember. They might open the door and throw shoes in the general vicinity, or they might leave them scattered in the hall for me to trip over. So I got the basket. It is only for their shoes, and I told them that if I have to remind them more than once to pick up and put away a pair of shoes, I will confiscate the shoes. If they have to go to school wearing flip flops in winter and are banned from recess or get yelled at by the marching band director, that’s their problem. Apparently, that’s motivation enough for them, and my oldest is great about using it. The other two have to be reminded, but only once. I’m not picking up shoes anymore!
Now if I could only find something that works for my kindergarten artist. He’s been drawing, painting and writing (also cutting and gluing) every waking moment, and can’t seem to put anything away. I’m trying a big open file box on the coffee table, with a couple smaller boxes inside for the markers, etc. Sorting into a tackle box would be overwhelming for him. Maybe I need to add a recycling basket that slides under the table.
We have a similar basket next to our door for hats and gloves and baseball equipment. We have a bench with a boot tray underneath it that everyone calls the “shoe bench”. I have them pretty trained to sit down and take of their shoes and leave them in the tray. Of course we have to worry about tracking in snow most of the time and I don’t think you have to worry about that. :)
And baskets and bins for life over here. It’s all they know.
Can show someone please tell me a shoe solution that does work? I’ve been looking for a big basket like that for our shoes, however seeing this makes me realize what a bad idea that would be!
My favorite part: “but the scene isn’t coming together”–I was laughing so hard I started crying. Love your writing! :)
We got a shoe cabinet at one point… it was a bench with cubbies in the bottom. The kids could kick their shoes in there, but tossing anything else in took effort. That worked like a charm. Of course, when we moved, we no longer had a place for the bench, and now we just have a shoe corner. I love this series. Make me think about rearranging and reorganizing my own stuff!
This is so funny to me! I think our boys must be opposites. For us, the BeyBlades work in the Bey Stadium, Pokemon cards work in the baseball card sleeve binder, and we have a shoe basket that works by the front door. I think I’ll be copying all your Miserable Failures from now on!
I’m with Molly – I have no idea what solution does work with shoes. We’ve tried everything (I think) with no luck. Shoes! GRRR….