There’s nothing worse than realising your child has taken “put your toys away” as a suggestion.
Finding the floor strewn with toys can be a nightmare - especially if you step on a discarded piece of Lego - but one mum has come up with a simple way of convincing her kids to tidy up after themselves.
And all it took was a plastic box, a marker pen and a bit of creativity, reports the Mirror .
The parent revealed her genius idea on Instagram , announcing she has created a ‘toy jail’ for whenever her kids leave their toys lying around on the floor.
Mum picks them up and puts them in ‘jail’ - and to earn a toy back, the kids must complete a chore.
The mum wrote out the rules on the lid of the box, which read: “TOY JAIL. You left it out and I picked it up, I’ve got your stuff, you’re out of luck.
“To get it back, please do a chore, then it’s yours, just like before. Love, Mummy.”
In a post on Instagram, the mum explained the ‘jail’ actually helps to keep the house tidy as well as teaching children a valuable lesson.
She wrote: “Children are capable of tidying up after themselves and that is strongly encouraged in the early childhood environment that children participate in keeping the room neat and tidy!
"If children look after their belongings from an early age we are teaching them to be responsible for themselves and their environment and encouraging independent thinking and problem solving."
Other parents are praising the idea and sharing that they’d be trying it with their little ones too.
One person said: “Love this!”, while another added: “I’m so going to try this.”
Someone else added: “I’m going to do this to my 12 & 16-year-old. This is going to be fun!”
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