If something is not working I am more than willing to try something new. I feel like with toys and keeping them organized and well played with you have to change it up every once and a while to keep things fresh. We have cut down the girls toys, but even still if they are all out at once they spread from one end of the apartment to the other. And once they spread they don’t get played with and boredom sets in. We have tried rotating toys, but I usually just end up forgetting about the ones put away. So I decided right before Christmas when I knew that new items would be coming into the house that something had to be done.

I went to the dollar store and found these 15 Litre clear totes. I brought them home and after the girls were in bed I sorted through all of the toys. I then separated them into categories. So we said we would see how this goes. They are allowed ONE bin down at a time. They are not allowed another bin down until the first bin is cleaned up and put away. I posted this idea on a mom group I am in and someone asked the question of what if they want to give their barbies a tea party…my answer was tough luck. I am pretty tired of the toys and clutter.

So we have 6 boxes in the works right now. This is what is in each box.

1. Magnetic Tiles
2. Kitchen play items
3. Barbies (dolls, clothes) and Ponies
4. Small random toys (little dolls, small animals, vehicles, a wooden puzzle house, and peg dolls, and a few random items). This is probably the most played with box.
5. Craft Items (paper and crayons are always available, this is beyond that).
6. Doll clothes and accessories.

We also have two canvas bins that hold stuffed animals and dolls. These bins are always available.

The bins get put on the top shelves of the bedroom closet. And they cannot get them down themselves. I realize that for some people this is not something they would do, but for us it is working really well.

The girls have been playing so well with this new setup. They are actually playing with their toys, and even more so they are playing with each other. The first day or so there was fighting over which bin would be brought down but that has settled.

Besides these toys the girls have a balance beam, a tumbling mat, 3 bilibo toys, a rocking horse, and their dress up bin. They have a doll house and barn in one room as well.

We got rid of their kitchen and instead they use their window ledge and other items to create their own restaurants, kitchens, and picnic spaces. I drew a small stove on the lid of their kitchen box.

I have found in the few weeks we have had this system set up that there have been some major changes in our daily lives.

1. The house stays a lot cleaner
2. The girls play more with their toys
3. The girls play more with each other
4. Their imaginations have blossomed

I truly believe that it is not about finding the perfect system that someone else uses. Or keeping the old system that you have always had even if it is broken. I think we need to find what works for us, in whatever stage we are in, for our own families, and for however long it works.

I am loving it. I am also loving stepping on less things.

Have you ever wondered if your family is normal? Or if your kids behavior is on par with other kids their age? Those times when you are about to run away because of how everyone is acting, and you think that you can’t be the only family that acts like this.

The other day I posted on my facebook that I was going to look into boarding schools for my 6 year old because we are having issues with her attitude. Apparently we are not the only ones and she will have many friends at her overseas boarding school. It is nice to know we are not alone in the every day challenges of raising kids.

It is so easy to not bring up what goes on every day in our homes. We don’t want to seem like we have problems. Like we are not normal. We don’t want to admit our struggles. It is easy to think that every other parent has their temper under control, and that when their kids throw a tantrum we just assume that the parent keeps their cool always. That they get down on one knee and calmly talks the raving lunatic of a child down and then they all hug it out. That they always have a calm head on their shoulder, and know how to handle their kids at all times.

It’s easy to think that other people’s houses have all clean dishes, spotless floors, and kids who put their toys away without being asked. That all the laundry is washed, dried, folded, and put away in an afternoon, all while a hot roast beef dinner is being made,and eaten and appreciated by all those in the house. To assume everyone else’s kids only need to be told once to get dressed, to stop touching the TV, the eat their vegetables, to brush their teeth, and to go to bed, and they listen and do it.

It is hard to talk about the struggles of parenting, the struggles of marriage, the struggles of doing life every day with little people who still have developing brains and bladders. When you and your spouse become team mates in the daily survival and forget how to be a spouse. Survival mode, survival years. That’s what people with older kids refer to the early years as. They say they spent those years just surviving each day. But that it gets better, that the time will fly. But when you are in the trenches (the pee filled trenches), it is hard to see beyond that. When each cup of coffee allows you to get through the next few hours, it is hard to believe that you will make it through the next few years. They say one day you will rediscover your spouse and won’t just look at them as someone who you trade off diaper duty with.

They say that one day children will conquer the potty, and will sleep through the night (or at least not wake you up every time they do), they say that one day you will have to wake the children up and not the other way around (I cannot wait for this day).

You just assume that your family is the only family in survival mode. That you are the only parent who has a child that screams in your face and slams the door like a hormonal teenager in a teeny tiny body. That only your kids try to kill each other daily, and words such as “don’t sit on your sisters head” are only heard within your walls.

Let me stand up and say we ARE NORMAL. When you discover that the majority of people’s houses are not filled with glitter and unicorns but real life people you breath a sign of relief. We need to stand together as parents. We need to be open and honest with each other. To help each other in our daily struggles. To help each other realize that we will get through these years. That as long as our homes are filled with love, and we try our best to raise proper humans we are doing it right. That there will be times when we feel like we have failed, but know that it is normal. We need to stand together, and to share our lives. We need each other through every stage of this parenting gig.