This picture of The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room totally represents me today! Today was an interesting day…I was very mellow this morning, letting them make their messes, play and have fun. But when the late afternoon started to roll around, I wanted them to start cleaning up, finishing up their chores, and getting ready for dinner. Surprisingly, my 3 year old had his room clean in less than 10 minutes (and actually cleaned the right way). I was so proud of him, I even made a big deal about it. My girls (who are 5 and 8) we bring extremely distracted and were having a hard time getting things done. So I extended their time from 20 minutes to 40 to 60 and it ended up being almost 90 minutes that I let them work on their room…time was getting closer to dinner and I wanted it all to be done, so I decided to teach them a lesson.
I felt like 90 minutes was more than enough . . .a generous amount of time . . . and so I went into their room and told them to go sit down on the couch. They were both crying and upset (of course I didn’t hurt them, they were just upset they didn’t get their room done). I took a large garbage bag in with me, and after they were in the living room, I went in their room and started cleaning up. I only put things in the bag that were papers, a few of their clothes, a few books, some simple things, and I hurried and cleaned up the rest. During this time, they were sitting out on the couch thinking that they were losing everything in their room.
This went on for about 5 minutes, and then I took the vacuum in there and finished cleaning. When I was done, I got their “beloved” Monster High Dolls and took them. All 5 of them, and put them in my room. This was their “real” punishment for not cleaning their room. It really wasn’t bad, only a few pillows and a few shirts, but it was the fact that they took so long to do it when I needed them to help with other things that made me frustrated. So I wanted to teach them, that when you don’t follow through, there are consequences. They were very upset about losing their Monster High Dolls, but quickly decided to not argue with me about it . .. good choice for them 😉
We talked about it and they will hopefully remember that next time I ask them, I REALLY mean it! We have been through this over and over and over, but it seems like after a few weeks we have to start over again. I know, I hope anyways, that someday it will sink in…lol.
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