Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Works-for-me-Wednesday KID ZONES

My tip for the week on making your household run a bit smoother is an idea my amazing husband figured out a few years ago: making zones in your house for your kids. This will greatly improve toy clutter and the unfortunate event of stepping on a Lego in the middle of the night! It also aids in making your home more organized. You explain it to your kids using a
traffic light
as an example. You can be as creative as you want by drawing a big traffic light sign as example, etc.

Green Zones = they can have their toys in these areas and play freely (usually their rooms and playrooms)

Yellow Zones = they can be in this area BUT with no toys (usually the kitchen, family room, dining room)

Red Zones = they cannot be in this area (usually master bathroom, bedroom, office)


Let me know how this works for you!
I am joining in on Works-for-me-Wednesday hosted here.

17 comments:

AmyK said...

It never occurred to me to label the zones, or even actually establish them. We do have particular areas like that, though, that my stepdaughter has to follow rules for--like no toys in the kitchen, or not in the kitchen at all when I'm cooking... the family room and her bedroom are the only two majorly green zones. I like the stop light example!

Anonymous said...

We do the same thing only never thought to name the zones. Thanks for the idea!!

Kim H. said...

I think this is a great idea - I don't have kids yet... but I can see this working well with my husband and I!

Amanda said...

This is a great WFMW post!! I don't think it will work well with my 19 month old yet, but couple more months and it just might!! Thanks for sharing!

Amanda said...

So I'm going to do this with my 7 year old son.... he's worse than the 19 month old LOL

Lisa, your blog profile doesn't have your email. Could you send me an email so I can email you?? My email is amandagaribay@yahoo.com

Zion said...

This is a great idea that I will definitely want to implement as my son gets older. Your husband is very clever, oh and you two look adorable in your pictures :)

Niki Jolene said...

Clever idea!

:)

Anonymous said...

Lisa, sorry that you didn’t find out about the dino eggs until after your son’s birthday party! I know your boys will still enjoy making it though.

Thanks for saying hi!

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Becca said...

Great idea! I'll have to try that. :)

Wani said...

WHat a great idea!

Unknown said...

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Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

Interesting system. I don't think we'll be quite that strict. I'd like to be able to have the kids in the room with me when I cook or work on things, and when I was a kid there were no rooms that we were totally banned from.

But it is an interesting idea.

LISSALYNN2006 said...

great idea

Anonymous said...

Hi! Party hopping and participating too so stop in for a visit.

LeNesha said...

Pretty nifty concept. I really like the idea of making the kiddies well aware of and clear about our expectations before they do the activity that you wouldn't want. Helps to eliminate the need to reprimand the child randomly because he/she didn't know that they weren't supposed to go into the master bathroom without our permission or leave toys on the living room floor, and so on.

Thanks for the reminder to clarify our expectations with our kids as well as to give them nice reminders using stop lights, zones, etc.

Cheers,

LeNesha
Blog: My Business Adventures
A Mom’s Real-Time Journey Starting a New Business.

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