This is in sharp contrast to the way my mom kept house. She followed a system called the Sidetracked Home Executive, and you could seriously eat off of the floor on any given day. But for the average visitor, I don't think they would think twice about the usual state of my home.
To make my job easier, I try really hard to teach the girls to pick up after themselves, and particularly to be responsible for keeping their own rooms clean. I have been quite pleased with C's efforts in this department. While my reminders to clean up her room may not be well received, once she puts her mind to it she really does an excellent job. I do get a big kick out of her finished product though. Everything gets put away, but not necessarily where it normally belongs. I remind myself that it doesn't matter that much in the scheme of things and I should just be thankful that she's doing it herself. She gets excited that she's rearranged things and can't wait to show mom and dad her "new" room. I wouldn't dream of bursting her bubble so I wait several days before rearranging things back.
Yesterday her task was to put all of her stuffed animals away that had migrated to the middle of her floor. In addition, she moved out the contents of the bottom two shelves of her closet to her armoire. The gloves on the drawer knobs made me think of the cloak room of Willy Wonka's factory.
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So how exactly do you get your girls to clean their rooms again? And do you want to talk to my girl for me?
Well, M still doesn't keep her room up by herself. I work together with her and she usually puts two things away while I do the rest. I'm hopeful that we'll see more progress in that area as she gets older.
C's compliance is really all about the state of mind she is in. Sometimes she just whines that she can't do it or doesn't know how. However, she's done it enough on her own that I can say with conviction that I know she can do it because she's done it so well so many times before. She seems to be less reluctant to do it herself now that I let her organize some of the things the way she wants instead of insisting that everything goes exactly where I want it.
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