Baby training?

LOL maybe not so much training, but teaching, I guess...
How did you go about teaching kids to help you pick up? Winnie's favorite thing right now is to run around the house pulling all the books off of the shelves, and frankly, I like my house clean. -_- I know its not going to be spotless the way I like it until Winnie goes to college, but if I could teach her to help me pick up her toys and books, it would be really awesome. She's 14 months old... Is this possible yet???

Dude, you should do an experiment by using clicker training. Pure genius.

If only I had my own kids to train... No actual experience/advise here though, but seriously, clicker training.

Its going to take consistency and a lot of following her around at first but don't let her play with something else until she cleans up any messes she made before. Its going to be tougher on you in te beginning but with consistency she will figure out that no fun until she cleans up

Sparks, how do I initiate that and show her how to put things back before something else comes out? How did you do it with Hannah? That's the bit I can't figure out. She watches me do it all the time, but I don't know if she's really understanding it.

Sit down in the floor, start singing the "clean up song" with a big goofy smile on your face, and start putting the books/toys away like it's the funest thing ever. Do this for at least a week straight while she stares at you wondering if Daddy should commit you to the nearest psych ward. Shortly thereafter she'll join in "singing" her own version of the song.

Worked for all 3 of mine! I have to say that all 3 of my boys clean up well, and they even like to vacuum!

clean up clean up everybody everywhere! Clean up clean up everybody do your share!
I have no memory of actually hearing that song but it's clearly ingrained in my mind lol.

I think if she figures out in order to play with another toy (or before other things can happen) the first must go away she'll come to think of it as normal. Make it quick at first, she has to put away a single toy to take out another (if there was an entire wreck of a room you'd pick up the majority first, then have her do a little bit) so that she successfully completes the clean up and the whole process wasn't miserable. Then make her responsible for a larger number of items. I don't have kids, it just seems like it'd work fine. Chores are something I wish my parents had made me do as a little kid instead of suddenly deciding when I was thirteen that I just should be doing them. They would have been a normal part of everyday life if I had been started young. So just stick with it and she'll adopt the habit.

I keep the boys' toys organized into buckets/bins (the clear Rubbermaid storage bins). They can only have two out at a time (usually for a few days), and then we put those away and get two other bins out. They do clean up each night after supper and before bedtime.

I started with each of them when they were about 8-months-old. It just takes repetition (and a lot of work on your end...lol).

I made a game out of it, sort of like Mia is talking about...some kind of silly, fun game and we did it together until they were much older. As far as the pulling books out of shelves, try preventing it from happening in the first place...just like dog training. Distract before it starts, just when she's getting that devilish look...looking toward the book case like she's thinking of going after the books. Get her attention on something else she can do that she likes or that she can feel pleased with herself over. Keep her busy with other things. The more she succeeds at pulling out the books, the more reinforced she gets for that and the more she'll want to do it....since it's fun. If she never gets to do it, but has better things to do instead, the more she'll start doing those things. (so the theory goes. LOL) Of course, this requires lots of supervision and not letting her self-reward. That can happen if you're not on top of it. But I think it works better than saying "no no" all the time. Or take the books out of the lower shelves. That would be easier. It's hard to put everything away, but if there are less temptations to do the "no no," she'll be able to play with her own toys more and those will be the norm, not the books.

"No no" isn't a word we use in this house. Still don't know how she's learned the word "no." Redirect is my FAVORITE game ever. LOL I think she needs new toys though, because she seems bored with what she's got. She'd rather do other things *eyeroll* The other books, I can put up higher, but the ones in her room I like where she can get to them, because at bed time, before we put her down, we let her pick a book out to read for that night (mind you its usually the same book "The Last Wild Witch by Lindy Kehoe" but once in a while she'll surprise me and bring me something else.) That shelf isn't tall enough to put them out of reach any way JPPSO broke the big shelf that went in her room before so we're substituting with a shorter one right now.
I like the idea of making it into a game, I don't know why I didn't think of it, I do that with everything else /facepalm.

If she seems bored, box some up and rotate them. The boys love playing with "new.l old toys again!

With Hannah at first it was a lot of following her around and making sure she cleaned up before she pulled something else out. It's a lot of work on our part at first because it seems like you have to be constantly following them around LOL So they don't get the self rewarding behaviours like Doberluv said.

When she would be playing with something and she would get up and start pulling something else out I would tell her that she has to clean up first and I would bring her back over to the mess and we would sit and clean it up together (and also usually sing the clean up song LOL).

she still needs to be reminded every now and then to put her things back where they belong LOL

This also.