Concordia Neighborhood Association | Portland, Oregon

CNA Board Meeting April 12, 7pm – Public Welcome

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The regular monthly meeting of Concordia Neighborhood Association Board of Directors will by Tuesday, April 12th from 7pm to 8:30pm in the Community Room of McMenamin’s Kennedy School. Open to the public as usual.

 

Agenda

7:00 – 7:05 pm Roll Call, Establish Quorum

 
  7:05 – 7:10 pm

  

   

     7:11 – 7:15 pm

 

 CONSENT AGENDA Approval/Amend Prior Board Meetings Minutes

(Please  review board minutes sent to you previously via CNA Board email by recording secretary prior to meeting)

Treasurer’s Report

(Please  review report sent to you previously via CNA Board email by Treasurer prior to meeting)

 
7:16 – 7:35 pm Public Comment (limited to 3 min per speaker)
 

 

7:36 – 8:00 pm

  

 

Old Business

Egg Hunt Status

Yard Sale Event

Recruitment of Board Member to fill vacant seats

 
 
8:01 – 8:30 pm New Business

1.      Concordia News update by Susan Trabucco, others.

2.      Review and Acceptance of Code of Conduct for Board of Directors (Document will be provided via CNA Email prior to meeting please review prior to meeting)

3.      Summer Concert Update

 
  Community and Committee Reports (Each Committee to please provide written Summary for each board member, prefer report submitted prior to meeting with discussion reserved for meeting)

1.  Media Committee   2.  Land Use Committee   3.  Social Committee

4. Clean-Up Committee   5.  Roles & responsibilities Committee 6. Policies and Procedures Committee

 
  Meeting Guidelines

1.      Stay within agreed time (Option: Decision to add time)

2.      Stay on topic (Option: Parking lot)

3.      Voice a solution if you voice a concern (Upgrade: Seek solutions to address ALL concerns)

4.      Avoid personal attacks (Upgrade: Notice and care about the effect your words have on others)

 

 

 

CNA SPRING CLEAN-UP – Saturday, May 14 from 8am to 12:30pm

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Saturday, May 14th from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM
PCC Workforce Training Center on NE 42nd Ave & Killingsworth!

Tired of seeing all the clutter & junk in your closet, basement & garage?
Drop it all off at the PCC Workforce Training Center on May 14th for
CNA’s BIGGEST FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR!

Spring Cleaning has come to Concordia and the CNA will dump, recycle
and find a new home for your household items! Your trash, may just be your neighbor’s treasure!

WE WILL TAKE: Household Waste, Metal, Furniture, Electronics, Lamps, Batteries, Mattresses, Clothes, Bicycles and other Household Stuff.

WE WON’T TAKE: Light Bulbs, Refrigerators & Freezers, Large Appliances/White Goods, Tires, Rocks, Concrete, Paint, Oil, Kitchen Garbage, Residential Yard Debris & Trimmings, Styrofoam (Block & Peanuts), Waste & Recyclables Collected Curbside (including Plastics), & Hazardous Waste.

Also, METRO is prohibiting the disposal of construction, remodeling or demolition materials (see examples below) suspected of containing asbestos at all Neighborhood Clean-Ups in 2016!

Please see below for examples of High Risk Materials Suspected of Containing Asbestos that will be prohibited at the CNA Clean-Up this Year:

Flooring: vinyl tiles, vinyl sheet, mastic
Walls: plaster, decorative plaster
Siding: cement siding shingles “Transite”
Ceilings: acoustical tiles, “popcorn” and spray-on texture
Insulation: spray-applied, blown-in, vermiculite, pipe, HVAC and lagging
Electrical: wire insulation, panel partitions
Other: fire doors, fire brick, fire proofing

SPECIAL FEATURES in 2016

• “You Price It” Yard Sale for reusable household goods! You see something you like, tell us what it’s worth to you, and it’s yours!

• Collecting household items for Community Warehouse, a nonprofit organization that provides essential household furnishings to low-income people. Their high-priority items are as follows: 1) Pots & Pans 2) Dish sets & Silverware 3) Microwaves 4) Cooking Utensils & Chopping Knives 5) Pillows, Blankets & Towels 6) Glasses/Cups 7) Blenders 8) Toasters 9) Coffee Makers 10) Lamps
⁃ ** Items for Community Warehouse must be clean & in useable condition, & free of stains or tears.

• Professional Tool Sharpening (8 AM – 1 PM): Bring in your Knives and Garden Tools and have them professionally sharpened by 1 SharpTool Edge Service (see flier for details). 25% of tool-sharpening profits go to the CNA

SUGGESTED DONATION FOR CLEAN-UP VEHICLE LOADS:

$10/car $15/truck, van, & SUV $20/large truck $30/oversized load

Extra $5 Donation for Electronics & Batteries

ALL PROCEEDS HELP YOUR CNA!

CONTACT:
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED to help organize event, & unload vehicles and direct traffic the day of the event. If interested, please email
Katie Ugolini at ktugolini@gmail.com or call 503-449-9690!

THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS:

 

BPS

 

CommunityWarehouse

 

1SHARPTOOL EDGE SERVICE TEXT

NECN

 

EAR

Metro_standard_blue

 

MMetals

 

PCC1

 

workforce

 

NewSeasons

 

heiberg

Part 2: The Alberta District and its bungalow grocery

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, History

Second of Three Parts: The life and times of a neighborhood store and its people

This is the second of a three-part series about the early days of the Alberta business district, written by Northeast Portland neighborhood historian Doug Decker. To read more of Doug’s research and writing—or to read the full text of the early news stories mentioned here—visit his blog.

By Doug Decker

A quick Alberta District History 101 refresher from Part 1, which ran last month: In 1910, the Alberta District feels a bit thrown together and rough-and-tumble. But investment and expansion are impressive. A strong sense of neighborhood identity is emerging thanks in part to early business owners, residents and real estate developers. People are arriving in the district from near and far because property is cheaper here than in other eastside neighborhoods and there’s a new streetcar that provides dependable service.

Plus, plans underway for a new Willamette River crossing that in 1913 would become the Broadway Bridge were changing the way people thought about living and working in Portland.

Built and Run by the Smyths
Enter Michael and Mary Jane Smyth, shopkeepers from Ireland who were running a mom-and-pop grocery near 79th and Southeast Stark (then known as Baseline Road). Michael was born in Ireland in 1842 and immigrated to the US in 1864. Mary Jane was born in 1850 and arrived in the US in 1875.

By 1910, the Smyths had run several small retail shops in Portland and at least one in eastern Oregon. The couple never had children and may have seen the Alberta District investment as setting themselves up for retirement. At ages 68 and 62, they were starting their new venture on the northwest corner of NE 27th and Going somewhat late in life.

The original plumbing permit for the building shows construction complete at the end of September 1910, three years before the curbs and sidewalks were installed by local contractor Geibisch and Joplin, and well before the streets were even paved. According to the Polk City Directory, the Smyths opened their business in 1911 as a men’s furnishings store. By 1914, the listing had changed to dry goods and the Smyths were living six doors to the north, with the residence side of the new building rented out.

Mary Jane died on October 12, 1917 and her funeral mass was held at St. Charles Catholic Church, which was then located near the corner of NE 33rd and Webster, two blocks south of today’s Concordia New Seasons (the parish church relocated to NE 42nd years later following a devastating fire and financial hardships). After Mary Jane died, Michael took a rented room in the neighborhood and continued to run the dry goods store on his own until 1921 when he sold it for $3,375. Michael died on February 20, 1922.

The Coulters Take Over: Alameda Park Grocery
William and Isabella Coulter, immigrants from England via Canada, bought the business from Michael Smyth, having seen it advertised in the March 2, 1921 edition of The Oregonian as a “very fine bungalow-grocery.” They had shopkeeping experience from several years in Missoula, Montana. It’s unclear if they gave the store its name, or if they adopted the name used by the Smyths, but there it is, listed in the 1928 Polk Directory as the Alameda Park Grocery.

This is unusual for a couple reasons: 27th and Going is near but not actually inside the Alameda Park plat; and, there was a much more prominent store on the southwest corner of 24th and Fremont known as Alameda Grocery. This must have been confusing, at least. No word about what that rivalry may have been like, but the 24th and Fremont business advertised widely with its name, and the bungalow grocery with its slight variation never shows up in any newspaper advertising or any other annual Polk Directory.

While the naming convention might have been confusing, we know it to be fact thanks to a photograph from David White, grandson of the Coulters, that clearly shows the name Alameda Grocery painted in big black letters on the side of the store.

William Coulter passed away in the mid 1920s, and Isabelle took over the business on her own, with help from daughter Agnes, until 1943. This 22-year period was probably the best era for this little building and its business: Isabelle ran a tight ship and took good care of the place.

Next up: After the Coulter years, as shopping patterns change and big grocery chains emerge, the bungalow grocery slides almost to oblivion before being rescued from the wrecking ball.

ADUs over the back fence?

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Land Use & Transportation

by Spencer Parsons

Take a look over your back fence. In addition to seeing your neighbors starting their Spring gardening, you may see them breaking ground on some new construction in their backyards. They may be building new accessory dwelling units (ADUs), some may even be building them inside their property line “setbacks”.

Generally, construction is restricted around a property’s boundaries by setbacks specified in zoning regulations, However, in December Portland revised its own Zoning Code regulations regarding ADUs, including relaxing height restrictions and setback requirements for new ADU construction. Homeowners in Portland are now allowed to build their ADUs within the five foot property line setback.

Portland Zoning Code Section 33.205 contains the updated ADU requirements. ADUs can be created by converting existing space in a home to separate living quarters, by finishing unfinished but existing space in the home (like in an attic or basement), by adding to an existing structure (like a detached garage) or by building a new structure.

Is an ADU the right Springtime/Summertime project for you? There are some considerations to weigh. Like all new construction, building a new ADU (or converting an existing structure into an ADU) will typically be subject to all applicable City permit fees, as well as system development charges (SDCs) that are levied by the Portland Parks, Environmental Services, Transportation, and Water Bureaus to offset the impact of the new development on the services provided by those City bureaus. However, some SDCs may be waived by the City for ADU projects if certain criteria are met and the project is submitted on or before July 31, 2016 and receives final inspection approval on or before June 30, 2017. If you are considering undertaking an ADU project, your first call needs to be the City for details on the SDC waivers.

Your next call may need to be to Multnomah County. The question of how new ADU construction may impact a homeowner’s property tax bill is still up in the air. The following disclaimer by the City of Portland, or similar versions, appear in multiple places all over the City’s web page:

Construction of an ADU could result in a significant increase in property taxes under Oregon tax law. So before you start an ADU project, it’s important to contact the Multnomah County assessor’s customer service line at 503-988-3326 or visit their website at for more information.

For some, the potential tax implications may be a deal-breaker for building a new ADU. For others, while it is something to watch it will not be enough to deter the addition of an ADU in the basement or backyard. Eventually, the dust will settle on the ADU property tax question. Whether that time will come before the SDC waiver window closes this July is still up in the air. Stay tuned…

Spencer Parsons is a land use attorney who lives in and practices law in the Concordia Neighborhood. He can be reached via email or phone (971) 279-2018.

2nd Annual Spring Alley Cleanup April 16th!

Posted on by Posted in CNA, Concordia News, Land Use & Transportation, Volunteer Opportunities

By Garlynn Woodsong Chair, CNA Land Use & Transportation Committee (LUTC)

For the second year in a row, the Concordia neighborhood is partnering with Concordia University, Metro, and SOLVE to host an alley cleanup event from 10a.m. to 4p.m. on Sat., April 16.

We learned last year that it would be particularly helpful for neighbors who own trucks and live on an alley to show up and help to transport the debris collected in the alleys to the Metro Central Transfer Station. The costs are “comped” by the event sponsors, so we just need the volunteers with trucks to show up! Last year, we did not have enough trucks or drivers, and some volunteers had to continue making the dump runs with too few trucks on into Sunday. We would like to avoid asking that of our volunteers this year.

Neighbors, students performing a day of service, and others will gather between 9:45a.m.and 10a.m. at the intersection of the 28th/29th alley and Emerson street to receive supplies and instructions, then split off to clean up various alleys around the neighborhood.

The cleanup is the first step in a long-term process of building community momentum towards alley improvement efforts. Alleys are a public right-of-way, but, like sidewalks, their maintenance is the responsibility of adjacent private property owners. Historically, alleys were used to provide automobile access to homes. There is now a growing community consensus that these spaces can be enhanced to not only serve this original function better, but also be community spaces that provide many opportunities for residents that enhance the quality of life. The specifics of the vision for the future of each alley must be developed and owned by the neighbors on each block.

There are over 120 alley blocks in the Concordia neighborhood. Of these, alleys will be prioritized for cleanup on April 16th where adjacent neighbors have reached out in advance, and/or show up on the day of the event.

Please contact Garlynn if you would like to be involved in the cleanup, if you can offer the use of a truck for the day of the event, and to learn more about how your alley could be improved to become a better community resource.

Concordia residents interested in discussing this or any other issue related to land use and transportation are invited to attend the Concordia Neighborhood Association Land Use and Transportation Committee (CNA LUTC) meetings at 7p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month, in the Community Room in the SE corner of McMenamins Kennedy School. Click here to join the LUTC mailing list.

Summer Concerts in the Park (Update)

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Greetings fellow Concordians!

Your friendly neighborhood Fernhill Summer Concert Committee here. It’s a particularly beautiful springtime in Concordia. Time to get your ‘seeds and starts’ in the ground. The same is true for your concert committee. Time for us to dust off our Rolodex, and get the old ‘Hat Passing’ hat out of mothballs!

This year we need to raise just about $20,000 to fund this year’s Fernhill Concert Series & we are still $9000 short!  So, if you have the desire and/or the means, PLEASE DONATE!

This summer the Kristan Knapp Foundation will match your individual donations to Fernhill Summer Concerts up to $500! So please do consider donating to the Fernhill fund. Your dollars will go twice as far! We have a fantastic, NW All-Star lineup lined up for you this year, and here’s who we have tapped;

We get off to a rollicking start on FRI, July 8th with THE TONY STARLIGHT SHOW!

Follow it up on FRI, July 15th with THE QUICK & EASY BOYS.

This year’s tent pole show on FRI, July 22nd will feature the ever fabulous LaRHONDA STEELE!

Join us South of the border on FRI, July 29th with the world renowned MARIACHI VIVA MEXICO!

And as always, finish out the season with us on TUES, August 2nd when Your Concordia Neighborhood Association presents WANDERLUST ORKESTRA for National Night Out 2016!

This is a really wonderful concert season that we are extremely excited about. However, we need the support of ALL CONCORDIANS (and any other F.O.F.P.) to make it happen!

If you are a family or individual and would like to contribute to this Spectacular Summer Series at Fernhill Park please visit:  parklandia.org/give-concerts to donate!

    • Choose SFFA Summer Concerts in the Park from the Pull Down Menu under “I would like to give to:”
    • Type in Fernhill Park when asked “Is there a specific park you’d prefer to support”
    • Donate Now & Get an Immediate Tax Receipt

If paying by check, please make checks payable to Portland Parks & Recreation/Fernhill Concerts and mail to;
Lynn Shisler / Neighborhood Concerts in Portland Parks
6437 SE Division St.
Portland, OR 97206.

And remember up to $500 in individual donations will be MATCHED by the Kristan Knapp Foundation!

Any contribution (e.g. $5 or $10) is greatly appreciated!!

WE STILL NEED BUSINESS SPONSORS!

If you are a business or institution and want to be a Fernhill Concert Series Sponsor by contributing $300 or more, you will receive these awesome benefits of sponsorship:

•Opportunity to have promotional table at all 5 concerts to display, give or sell items.
•A chance to give to your neighborhood
•A tax deductible contribution staying “close to home”

•Your Business Name Recognized

If you are a business, please let us know how you would like to participate as a sponsor by contacting Lynn Shisler; Coordinator, Neighborhood Concerts in Portland Parks at 503-317-2062 or via email at lynn.shisler@portlandoregon.gov. 

PLEASE HELP SUPPORT THE POWER OF LIVE MUSIC TO BRING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER AND THANK YOU!

Alberta Main Street seeks performers, sponsors & vendors for annual street fair

Posted on by Posted in Arts & Culture, Concordia News, Volunteer Opportunities

The 19th Annual Alberta Street Fair is Saturday August 13, 2016. Alberta Main Street is currently seeking performers, sponsors and vendors for the event. The Alberta Street Fair is a daylong celebration of community, art and music that brings over 25,000 people to Alberta Street. Hosted by Alberta Main Street, the street fair includes three stages of entertainment and over 300 vendor spaces between NE 10th Ave and NE 30th Ave.

Call for Performers: Alberta Main Street seeks a diverse array of performers appropriate for a family-friendly event. The non-profit seeks performers of all kinds: musicians, dancers, children’s performers and other acts that appreciate and represent the cultural diversity of our neighborhood. Performers are invited to learn more and apply online. All acts must perform original material or works that are clearly in the public domain. The application deadline is April 17, 2016.

Sponsorship Opportunities: The eclectic mix of entertainment and craft at The Alberta Street Fair epitomizes the Portland draw and is a fantastic opportunity for exposure for your business. By sponsoring Alberta Street Fair, you can: directly connect with an active and engaged audience, showcase products, bolster your brand by partnering with a respected event and support your consumer’s community. For more information available online.

Vendor Registration: Local artists, crafters, makers, organizations and food vendors are invited to participate in this popular event. Vendor registration fees vary by the type of vendor and size of booth. More information and registration is now available online. Register before June 15, 2016 for early bird pricing! For additional information about Alberta Main Street contact Sara Wittenberg at  or visit albertamainst.org.

Challenges & opportunities face our neighborhood – you CAN make a difference!

Posted on by Posted in CNA, Concordia News, Volunteer Opportunities

Hello Neighbor,
It’s been a busy month for your Board so let me take a moment to get you caught up with what your Directors have been up to.

Homelessness & Toxic Air
At the General Membership Meeting on March 8th, speakers addressed the latest events connected with the Mayor’s Homeless Plan and provided an update on Toxic Air issues. Adam Lyons, Associate Director- Neighborhoods Program and Manager- Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, spoke to both issues. Officer Anthony Zoeller with the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct (and a regular attendee) gave additional perspective to the Homeless Issue.

In order to address some immediate needs , the Mayor has been active in coming up with solutions for the Homeless issue with little input from the community. However, Lyons has been very active in championing alternative solutions with a focus on neighborhood input. We expect to be hearing more from Adam regarding strategies for ensuring that the neighborhood is represented. As of this writing, no final decision has been made regarding locations of City-owned property selected for “camps”or for final policies to manage these sites. If you have a desire to get involved with this process, please let me know. I will make sure you are connected to the appropriate party.

What I know for sure is that communication within City Hall is inadequate.You can make the request, but you never know if anyone is really listening at the other end.Importantly, there appears to be a lack of understanding priorities.

St. Johns shelter challenges
 Take for instance the red tape and bureaucratic morass the St. Johns Neighborhood Shelter has been experiencing. It is apparent that City Staff is looking only at codes and regulations, not the human condition. Why else would the City not allow a variance for a 5- foot-wide sidewalk but insists on a 6-foot-wide sidewalk at the rear of the property that is rarely used. Why is the City imposing permitting fees and other charges that make shelters too expensive to build when homeless mothers and children remain on the street? Get your priorities straight, Planning Department and those Commissioners who have their hands on the steering wheel!What we should remember is that many of these “Homeless”people had homes in our neighborhood but were not as fortunate as the rest of us who survived the economic meltdown created by Wall Street.

Toxic air potential in Concordia
Toxic air in Southeast and North Portland should not be seen as some other neighborhood’s issues when the likelihood of the Concordia Neighborhood hearing about its own bad air is pretty high. Given our proximity to the Columbia Industrial Corridor, we should not be surprised to learn that we face a similar situation. Adam Lyons identified straight answers and real transparency with the Department of Environmental Quality as being the biggest obstacles in confronting the issues. He believes that once there is some real communication from DEQ and related agencies, we will learn how deep this problem really is. We will be providing additional information as it is uncovered and will keep you posted. Please keep an eye open for news; and, if you are growing your own veggies, make sure you are cleaning them thoroughly before putting them on a plate.

Use it or lose it: Other items of importance
 While this newspaper has gone through a major upgrade in professional journalism, it sits on very brittle ground. We now have a temporary volunteer Editor through June of this year. If we do not find a replacement, we will see the end of our neighborhood newspaper, i.e., the lights go out. Same can be said for our Board of Directors. Many are now in the last 6 months of their tenure with no new volunteers in sight. We need to hear from those of you who are willing to step up to the plate for all of us. We did get a Board Member to volunteer as Vice-Chair (Chris Lopez). Chris has been extremely active in our community, and we welcome his assistance in moving us forward. We are still down two Board Members, and I certainly see an under-representation of women. Use it or lose it, isn’t that the way the saying goes and never so true as today. We need to keep this paper going to make your wishes known. The alternative is to let someone in an office downtown or an unknown in government position make our decisions for us.

Thanks for listening in; let’s make this neighborhood great by YOU becoming a force of one.

Happy Spring!
Isaac Quintero, Chairman CNA

OPINION: Diary of demo & development, part 5

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Land Use & Transportation, Opinion

By Luke Griffin

Everyone in Concordia has had the opportunity to watch a house be torn down to make way for new houses, duplexes, and skinnies, for better and/or for worse.  This is the continued chronicle of my personal experience.

Construction on the modern brownstone has been going strong now for months.  It is a daily part of our lives that impacts the entire street. Whatever it is, my attempts to remain neutral and not let it bother me are beginning to break and I think it is time for a good rant rather than a building progress report.

The building is an eye-sore blotting out the sun and supplanting green space.  Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but there are some features to this development that are simply factual. On a street of quaint houses, this cubist design is like a large brick in a bed of round river rocks.  The size of it is out of place as well, a bulking square cutting the neighborhood in half.  The building itself is placed the bare minimum 10 feet from the sidewalk and 5 feet from the side property line.  On a block of pretty front yards that is used to being filled with playing children and floating butterflies, this thing juts out breaking up the pleasant view of the middle class dream with all of its hulking indifference. There is no front yard, the classic feature which makes NE Portland neighborhoods so pretty and beneficial to the environment. For a city wanting to increase green space by 30%, this project seems like a total affront to our values and utterly disconnected from the neighborhood.

I take issue with the lack of notices we receive from the City and developers.  Throughout the entire process we have received a total of two notices before the work began.  However, since work has started we have found our street repeatedly closed, our cars often boxed in by double parked semi trucks, and the road itself torn up and poorly patched.  I don’t really mind the street closures and loss of parking, as I understand their necessity during construction, but it would be nice to get some advance notice as we go along.  Some people think we may benefit from the new house because, thanks to this awesome development, my home’s value will increase!  This, however is a bit misunderstood and is often used as an excuse for the continuation of these ill conceived projects.  It is actually my house and the houses around, along with our vibrant community, easy accessibility to local businesses, and generally lovely, connected, close-in neighborhood that motivates builders to demo and devo in the first place. I am also not planning to sell my house anytime soon.  Maybe my home value will be increased because of the duplex next door by the time I sell.  Then again, maybe the value would have appreciated anyways. It is completely hypothetical at this point.

As I get to the end of this entry, I realize in the greater context of the world’s problems, how Portland does residential development is a pretty minor thing.  However, framing the issue as a pro vs. anti argument is an overly simplistic way to stifle any sort of discourse about regulations. I am not against building but I personally believe it should be in harmony with the neighborhood it occurs in.  Portland’s few regulations mean that huge monoliths can replace quaint homes.  For those who make the argument that an owner should be able to do whatever they want with their property, my perspective is this: the Ayn Randian, me-only paradigm sells-out and otherwise diminishes core Portland values such as interconnectedness, community building. These homes price out the poor and working class as well as detract from the aesthetics and livability of Concordia.  I believe we can do better to maintain unique Portland neighborhoods and protect our most vulnerable neighbors while allowing thoughtful and mutually beneficial construction to occur.

Part 6:  Flooding concerns, Sunday workday, nasty interactions,  and garbage. 

5 fresh tidy ideas for toddlers in your home

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Family

by Rachel Ivey, Room to Grow Childcare

As a parent and home daycare provider, I am always looking for fresh ideas to keep a peaceful and tidy home. Like most parents, I want our home to reflect all of its inhabitants, but it’ s easy for our living room to get buried under Lincoln Logs. If this struggle sounds familiar, these tips will get you on a path to creating and keeping a home that is inspiring for you and your little one.

  1. Get real! Does that obscenely loud pull-cord donkey make your brain ache? Get rid of it. Remember, the goal is to share space with your child and it’ s ok for something not to work for you. If it makes you squeamish to get rid of it completely, put it in the attic for a week and see how your child responds.
  2. Create “smaller sets.” Limit each kind of toy (blocks, dolls, cars etc) to 20 pieces or less and create a special basket for each set. An average toddler can only be expected to pick up about two dozen objects without becoming frustrated. Attainable goals feel good for everyone and encourage growth.
  3. Banish the “toy box.” Although it might seem like one big box for all the toys would make cleanup easier, it can actually set kids up for failure. The most exciting thing any toddler can do with a big box of anything is dump it all out. This can create a mess too big for toddlers. If your child likes to dump things out, encourage them to dump out just one set, like blocks. Putting them back in the box can be great fun!
  4. Establish guidelines for play. In our daycare, it works for the children to play with one ‘ set’  at a time in a specific area. Far from being limiting, this inspires the children to get the most out of each material. The expectation to clean up independently before moving on takes absolute consistency from caregivers, but once the routine is established, it allows the children freedom to choose, offers caregivers opportunity for positive feedback, and reduces ‘ empty’ time that can lead to dangerous boredom.
  5. ‘ Off Limits Until…’  We have toys that are just for afternoon play. This encourages delayed gratification and self-control, and gives them something to look forward to! Consider offering particular toys only during the ‘ witching hour’ or while you’ re making dinner.

Making just these 5 changes will restore balance to your home and create a space where the whole family can thrive and play in harmony.

Rachel Ivey is a mother, owner and operator of Room To Grow Childcare and researcher of all things home and child. For tips, and advice on thriving with children, please feel free to contact roomtogrowportland@gmail.com.