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Twin Boys Sharing a Room

by Tracy

Twin 4 yr old boys share a room. The books end up all over the room and closet (two book shelves, one of which is in the closet). One boy is neat, and one is messy, but I hesitate to ALWAYS assume the the "messy" twin was responsible for the mess of (mostly) books all over the floor, and of course both deny culpability. Yikes!



Regards,
Tracy

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Apr 05, 2010
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Setting Limits on Books
by: Betty

Play pretend library.
I would suggest that each boy choose 10 books they are reading or want to have handy. They can have these on a low shelf.
The rest should be packed away or put on a high shelf that only a parent can reach.
Ask each child to exchange a read book with one off the high shelf.
You can make it fun and pretend you're the librarian.
Apr 02, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		Training Kids to Be Organized
by: The Organizer

Hi Tracy,

You are facing quite a challenge! It is hard to train kids who share a room when one is neat and the other messy. Eventually, if they haven't already, they will start to fight about it.

I have to warn you, the neat one is likely to give up being neat and become a slob because his brother doesn't help him out in picking up things. That happened to a friend of mine. One kid made the bed and picked up things every day and the other didn't. Now that they both have their own rooms, both of them look like they've been hit by a tornado!

My advice is to create a schedule and make it a routine. Make both them clean up the room before they get to do something that they like to do, like watch television, play outside etc. and stick to the routine on a daily basis. If you can choose a chosen time, like before bath time that would be good for creating a routine. If they choose not to help, they don't get to do something that they wanted to do while the other one does.

It may be hard on you at first, but I assure you will appreciate the results if you are consistent. It might be helpful to read Have a New Kid by Friday. That was extremely enlightening for me.

You might also be interested in the topics about organizing kids stuff.


The best to you and your boys!

-The Organizer

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