Ok, I know this sounds crazy, but I want to toss it out there for some possible ideas. I have four kids, the oldest is almost 7, the baby is 15 months. So, you figure they each have a minimum of two pairs of shoes (sneakers, sandles etc), that is 16 shoes to keep track of (not including Mommy and Daddy's) The shoes end up scattered all over our house, we can never find a matching pair when it is time to leave. If we set them by the door, the baby carries them off or the dog chews them, if we leave them in the sunroom, the dog chews them, if I send them to their rooms to put the shoes in their closets, they get lost along the way and one ends up in the closet while the other ends up with all the misc socks that disappear in the washer :) Does anyone have a tried and true solution for this problem?
I have tried the whole "you are responsible" thing where they leave the house with out shoes but that really isn't practical. I have tried it when we were going someplace where no one needed to get out of the car, but I can't really send someone to school with out shoes, or go to the grocery with out shoes. I have offered "points" for putting the shoes where they belong etc.
Help? Please?
Something I would do is get one of those shoe hanging racks and put it in the garage. Label it with their names. (Or a cubby type thing) Put it high up enough where the baby and dog can not get it. Best wishes.
My girls have their own kids now but we laugh at times about what I did with them. After getting tired of telling them to pick up and put away, I told them if I picked up their belongings, they were mine and they would have to "buy" them back. Buying means a chore. I said nothing more after telling them what I would do until one of them asked for a missing pair of favorite jeans. You know the rest of the story. This is a good way to teach them responsibility and there are no arguments. Good luck.
I think that the basket idea is a great one, but we don't really have the floor space for that. We have a small bookshelf in the laundry room and the shoes get stacked on the shelf. It works for us, while we're saving up for one of those fancy bench/basket storage areas like you can find at pottery barn. They have great "lockers" too.
good luck.
I started using a basket with my son when he was about 1 1/2. I put it just inside his doorway. We kinda made it a game. I would have him help me clean up and cheer him on when he put his shoes there. Sometimes I would find some random things in there with his shoes, but usually his shoes ended up there. Now he is 4 and knows when I tell him to put his shoes away to put them in his basket.
Maybe you could put seperate baskets, one for each child, somewhere near your entry way. And possibly put the older childrens up higher so the little one couldn't wander off with them.
It has worked well for us, just a thought. Hope it helps!
We went through this too, but now I have a cubby in the front closet that everyone puts their shoes away, also we have a no shoes in the house rule, so as soon as they come in they put them in their cubby's. My kids are 3&5, and it took a little while, but it's well worth it now, we've had this system for about a year. Good luck, I hope this helps.
We use baskets inside the front closet for the kids and a hanging sweater organizer for me and my husband:)
