I dunno about you, but it seems like there’s always one in the family. Someone who reminds you of the Peanuts character, Pig Pen. Who makes the task of cleaning up twice as difficult.
And considering my confession last week, you might think that someone is me.
But, actually, it’s not.
It’s my oldest daughter. God bless her – she just can’t keep her bedroom clean to save her soul.
a peek in the closet
I’ve tried everything I can think of to get her to clean it and keep it clean. None have worked. And of course, there’s always the parenting technique of “picking your battles,” but at some point this comes down to life lessons. My daughter is officially a “tween” (Ahhhhhh….) and I figured it’s time to start getting things under control.
I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided we would do it, with a twist. I informed my daughter that once we came home from our Christmas vacation, I was going to clean her room (dun, dun, dun…).
Then I informed her that I wasn’t putting anything away. I was just going to put everything that was not in its place into a trash bag.
And then I informed her that she was going to have to win her bags back (cue hyperventilation).
So when we got home, I bought a box of lawn and leaf bags, and came right home to get to that room.
4 bags later…I showed her what types of activities she would have to complete to earn her bags back.
I got my list from Organic Families - she had so many great ideas! I printed it out, cut it into strips and put them in a shoe box for my daughter to pull from.
The rule is: with each chore there is a time limit within which it must be completed. She must do one chore per bag, and must empty and put away everything in each bag before she can do another chore to earn another bag back.
So, what chores did she pull? He he he – this time she got “Give daddy a 10 minute foot rub and then do This Little Piggy with his feet when you’re done.”
I love that laugh!
So far, we’ve gotten the room to stay clean. This was taking place along with re-organizing her bookshelves. I’m hoping she’ll find this new, clean room is worth maintaining. The shelves have been clean so far. Time will only tell if the rest of the room will remain clean, too.
