Snail Spirals

I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize for all the times when I was growing up that I responded to my mom's requests that I clean my room with "I did clean my room," or "My room is fine, leave me alone," or "Fine!" (with the patented eye-roll and sigh).



Emma's room has been gradually becoming a disaster area over the past three days. Things came to a head today, when I could no longer get from the door to her bed without stepping on something. Now I realize that she's only three years old and the main responsibility for cleaning her room still falls on me. I do think, however, that age three is plenty old enough to help pick up toys, put clothes in the laundry basket, etc. She has, in fact, been doing this since she was old enough to follow directions.



For three days, I have repeatedly asked her to put her toys away and put her dirty clothes in the basket, not on the floor. This morning, I told her that her room needed to be picked up by bedtime tonight, or there would be consequences. I would be happy to help her do it, she just needed to let me know when she was ready to start.



By jammie-time tonight, she still had not made any move, so I asked her if she was ready to pick up yet. Her answer? "Mommy, it's OK! It's not so bad." I told her again that it was time to pick up so we would be able to get to her bed without squishing her toys, and her solution was to shove everything to one side, thus creating a path and removing the problem, right? Wrong, said I. "It's time to pick up, or there will be consequences." So she replied, "OK, you can do it and I'll get my jammies on. We'll cooperate!" (OK, that was a little funny.)

I just said "That's not the way it works, sweetie," and started picking up. She was quite pleased with her solution, got her jammies on, and climbed up on her bed and started looking at a book. I put all the clothes away (dresser or laundry, as appropriate), and started on the toys. She just kept watching. When I started carrying things out of the room, however, she got a little worried. She wanted to know where I was taking them.

You see, if I have to pick up the toys, they go away for a while. This is a policy that's been in place for a couple weeks now, in an attempt to reduce the daily mess. This is not something that I just sprung on her tonight. She lost a whole bunch of favorite books, several stuffed animals, a favorite blanket, assorted random toys, and her beloved Leappad that she just got for Christmas, along with all the Leappad books.

I think tonight she may finally be starting to get it. But man, do I feel like the Grinch.