Kids Playing Outside without Making an Inside Mess
My kids love to play outside – they go out a lot, practically every day, and I’m happy that they get so much exercise. But when they come in they are not very inclined to clean up their toys, nor are they too excited about properly putting their jackets and sweatpants away.
After trying to convince them to do a better job of cleaning, I finally gave up and decided to see if I could figure out a way to make it easier for them to want to do it. As a child my home had a mudroom on it, an area where someone could take off their outdoor things, and if they made a mess, it was easy to clean. I decided to bring this philosophy to my house.
I started by adding to the tile around the back door, so they’d have more room to maneuver. Then, I found some mudroom plans online, and had them adjusted and arranged for my house. These included some lockers for them to hang their jackets and things up in, a box for their hats, scarves, and gloves, and a small bench where they could sit to take them all off.
This worked wonders for inside, but the back yard was still messy. To encourage them to put their bikes away properly, we had a couple small bike sheds set up against the back of the house. These sheds were more just like a shed roof they could put their bikes under, but just having that space there make them want to put the bikes away. It’s a mental trick that I’ve used to my full advantage here.
With this, life is now much easier for me. The kids keep their things organized much better, the house is easier to clean, and it all looks pretty good. Not bad for an area designed to trick my kids into being cleaner, not bad at all!
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