Hi. Not an earth-shattering issue, but just something that has come up. DS is 22 months (about 20 months adjusted age, if that matters). I guess I have always just let him have his toys out all over the house, and I typically clean them up when he naps or goes to bed for the night. Recently I tried putting away some toys while he was still awake, and he got VERY upset: crying/screaming, running over to dump them out/take them out again. He was REALLY upset! In the past I used to clean up while he was awake at times so I could vaccum and he didn't mind that much.
At this point he does play very appropriately with some toys, but with others (like small blocks, puzzles that he has a hard time with) I think his main way of playing with them is just to dump them out or move them from place to place. I guess he likes having a lot of things out and moving from activity to activity.
When I have started to clean things up and he has resisted, I have gotten very frustrated. I guess I'm trying to figure out what is logical. It seems overboard for me to be angry that he's messing up the house by playing with his toys, but I also realize that at some point he should start putting things away when he's done playing with them. He has the idea of putting blocks into a box, etc. but almost does that as part of play and then dumps them back out again.
At what age should he begin cleaning up his own toys? Should I have a set amount of things he can have out before he has to clean something up? Not sure he'd understand that. At this age I don't think it's fair to have him clean up each item before he gets another one out, but what is fair?
Thanks for any opinions and input!
Marie