Now, many who read my blog know I love me some creative parenting. Yes, I do. So here is the tale of my latest experiment.
Happy Boy is one of the best kids ever. His sense of humor is out of this world, much like his ornery smile. However, laziness is his weakness. The boy does not like to exert himself. Sending him to clean his room is like asking him to pluck his toenails off one by one...torture. Then after an hour of him locked in his room with N.O. progress I would set the timer give him 2 minutes to clean everything green, or all things action figures. 2 minutes for red, or balls. 2 minutes for blue, or cars. You get the picture.
A couple of weeks ago I was exhausted of the constant battle and developed a plan. I realized that I probably never devoted the time to teaching him how to clean his room as I had to Happy Girl - he is the second child. I was partially to blame. I headed to his room with a large trash bag and anything that wasn't it it's "home" I threw in the bag. Two trash bags later and a very clean room left one Happy Mom. I dragged the two bags to the guest room and left to pick my darling 6-y-o from school.
On the way home I apologized to him for not taking the time to teach him how to clean his room. I informed him that I cleaned his room for him by taking anything out that wasn't put away it it's "home". I told him if he could keep his room clean each night while he brushed his teeth I would inspect the entire house. If all of his toys were put away then he could earn a toy back from the guest room but he could only keep it if he could prove to me that the toy his picked had a "home". However, if I found toys during inspection they would head to the trash bag in the spare room and he wouldn't gain a toy for that day.
HALLELUJAH!!!! The angels have sung and heavenly rays have warmed our home for 2 weeks!
People - I have a new son. It has been amazing. Let me know if you decide to try this tactic, I'm curious if it works for anyone else.
4 Comments:
Yeah, that didn't work for me. Do you want to know what the answer was? "Who cares? Papa will just buy me more toys."
SIGH! And he's RIGHT. I have yet to be able to control Papa and his horrible toy buying habit.
By
Heather Hansen, at 1:22 PM
Egh. That stinks. Well, at least he knows he can always call on Papa when in need. heh.
By
Rebekah, at 1:59 PM
great experiment! thanks for sharing! that's just the way that we parents learn from our kids...i like your blog design too.
By
Anonymous, at 9:27 AM
Hey, you are nicer than my mom was...she just threw the trash bags away. There was NO chance of earning anything back. Needless to say, that stuck with me. It's probably why I'm such a clean freak now. Even as an adult, the fear of my mom and a big black trash bag haunts me!
Give that lil' guy a hug from me!
Peace Out!
Marie
By
Marie, at 8:22 AM
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