This is the battle cry every time we leave the house in winter. In the summer it's just, "Put on your shoes!" And what is the response 99% of the time......come on....you know this one..... The response is...."I don't know where my shoes are! I can't find a jacket." Being that I had heard that 1,000,000 times I devised a few simple solutions.
#1 - A Shoe Rack near the front door. Every one is allowed 3 pairs of shoes to be "docked" here. That should be simple enough. Personally I have a pair of slippers, my gardening clogs and a pair of tennis type shoes. I change them out depending on the weather and season.
#2 - A Jacket Basket. Yes the children have a jacket basket. They don't have to do all that pesky hang up of their coats. They just have to lift the lid and throw. Fairly simple right? When you are leaving, to find a jacket it's just the opposite...lift the lid and grab.
#3 - Individual Baskets. Each of the kids has their own storage near the front door. They can store anything they want in there. It is primarily for their backpacks but other things can go in too.
These 3 simple solutions should make the front entry a fairly tidy and organized space....No? Indeed the answer is no. There are still shoes strewn about, jackets on the ground and backpacks all willy nilly. I instruct everyone to come and straighten things out and after about 5 requests, requests that increase in intensity to demands, it gets done. And usually when it's finally getting done someone says, "Geese mom! You don't have to yell!" Yeah right.
Tonight to prove a point I decided that we would have a Jacket and Shoe Summit, a meeting of sorts. I grabbed an IKEA bag and started cruising the house. After collecting all the shoes I could find I arranged them neatly in front of the door. Note, these were only the kids shoes. Guess how many I found....guess....nope, higher.....higher still....45. Yep, 45 pairs of shoes. They only have 3 pairs of feet! We did lots of math at our summit and EVERYONE agreed that 15 pairs of shoes per person seemed like a lot.
As a side bar...note the 7 sandals/shoes that are exactly the same in the middle on the left. That was an attempt by me to avoid Coulter saying, "I can't find my shoes!" The idea was, if I buy 4 pairs of the exact same shoe he can find 2 that look similar. I didn't care if they were both left or right just the same. It still didn't work. He has the full capability to loose 7 shoes just as easily as 1.
Next jackets....Bob and I had collected all the jackets we could find and stacked them on the sofa. We counted 23. Yep, 23 coats, sweatshirts, fleece jackets, snow coats etc. Again with the math and we decided that 8 jackets +/- was too many too.
Now I know that one of the main problems is that I bought all these coats and shoes. Actually I should say "obtained." Half of them were hand me downs or handed down. Lord knows how many coats and shoes Kees would have if I saved 'em all. And the shoes.... All the time with, "I can't find any shoes!" I caved, yes, I caved and just bought more because I was trying to throw shoes at the problem. 'Cept the problem is, the more shoes one has the more the individual pairs of shoes loose their value. You know, it's like flooding the market with anything. US funds, pork bellies, orange juice, gold, shoes (not gold shoes) ....and apparently jackets too.
So to prove a point we had our meeting and the kids got to see all their coats and shoes in one place. They were amazed at how many there were. They giggled, counted, divided, and agreed we needed to get a grip on the situation. We went through all the coats. I "logged" all the coats everyone had. I don't really need a log but I was showing due diligence, showing that I was keeping track. Then I "logged" the shoes. In the process we ditched a bunch of shoes and jackets. OK a few. AND I found one of Bobby's jackets, your welcome Julie!
Next we went over the rules, jackets in the basket, shoes on the rack - 3 pairs only - all others go upstairs in the rack in their closets. Agreed? Agreed! All for one and one for all.... OK not for all but it's a pipe dream. Tomorrow all the shoes will be on the rack, jackets in the basket and backpacks in the baskets. Yeah right! But I can dream, DREAM! Remember when our dreams were things like climbing mountains, taking exotic vacations at will, getting in perfect shape, having day after day of quiet afternoons, stuff like that. None of those dreams included clean entry ways, jackets in a baskets or shoes on racks.
Of course in my dreams I did have a couple kids. I have been blessed with three. In my dreams I had a wonderful husband and I have been blessed with one. In my dreams I had a beautiful house and I have been blessed with one....a messy one but beautiful to me. SO all in all I have achieved most of my dreams. I will fight with the shoes and jackets and I will keep the kids. Yet again I realize that I am living the dream, a modified version of the dream, but still a great one.
We'll continue to work on our shoe and jacket issue. There is so much beyond it and I want my kids to value their things. For their own good. We have so much and there are so many that have so little. I want to instill good values and just buying endless amounts of shoes and jackets isn't the answer. I hope the kids learn something, I have. May you have comfortable shoes and a warm jacket and if you don't, come on over.
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