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Cleaning Up

Learning to clean-up after yourself is an important life lesson that must be taught. I have gone back and forth teaching Jake to clean-up his toys. Sometimes he is very cooperative and others he refuses and ends up making a bigger mess. This month I have again tried having him pick up after playing. I really focused on having him clean-up his activity before moving on to the next activity during Structured Play time. This is will help him focus on one activity at a time and finish the activity before moving on to the next. In turn, extend his attention span.
Yesterday after playing with the puzzles for a while Jacob put them back on the shelf without being told! That was a huge success! He has made some real developmental growth this month and cleaning up after himself is just another example of that growth! 
I was gitty with excitement at this growth and immediately started thinking of all that he would be able to do to help out! He is a cleaner by nature; he loves to sweep, dust and mop. But NEVER pick-up toys. Now I am really seeing him pick-up his toys even when we are not having Structured Play time.
Now he is not perfect! I did have to ask him to pick-up his animal cards after sorting them. He willing cleaned up the cards and placed them on the shelf after being asked. He is certainly getting it. This is a life skill that is important and will carry him through his life! I know adults that can't or won't do this!
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