We recently brought two 8 week old kittens into our home.  This is
really our first attempt to introduce our three children (2, 4 & 7) to
caring for pets.  They came from a local farm with no shots yet.  We
have have them for about three weeks and have had no luck getting them
to consistently poop/pee in the litter box(es).

We have identified a few occasions where they cry a bit and scratch the
carpet.  We took those opportunities to set them in the litter box and
were happy to see them use it appropriately.  The trouble is that it
seems 8 out of 10 poops are deposited outside the box.  Many go behind
TV's, stereo cabinets, under ironing board, beside piano. A common
favorite seems to be to go on some kind of wires. I basically can't find
a room in our large multi-level home that doesn't reek of cat deposits.

We are keeping the litter box clean and introduced a new bigger litter
box to the lower level in addition to the one we keep upstairs.  At this
point I can't imagine having company over to our house since we are
finding (and cleaning) poop in every corner of every room.  I am
interested in any advice you could lend to train these kittens.

Thanks
Brent