Lost in Laundry

Monday, February 15, 2010

In the not so distant past, telling the boys "Go Clean Your Room", wasn't nearly so simple as saying those four little words.

I would say those four words, yes, but then I would make 4 or 5 trips back to their room (each time having been told "We're finished with our room!") only to give more specific directions about what exactly a "clean room" looks like. "Pick up those legos peeking out from under the bed....Clean off your dresser....Your shoes don't belong in a giant heap in the middle of the closet....Your dirty socks don't belong on the ceiling fan and I don't even wanna know why you threw them up there...." Anybody tracking with me here?

After one such afternoon of many trips to inspect a "clean" room that really wasn't, I made this list for the boys and stuck it on their dresser mirror.

People ----- IT. WORKS. It's nearly magical.

Now when I tell them to clean their room, and they come sauntering out in .27 seconds and tell me they're finished, I ask "Did you do everything on the list?" And they sheepishly retreat to their room and finish the job.

It's nearly magical.

I need to beware the power of the list. My husband may turn it on me and post one in the laundry room.

permalink | posted by Starr at 8:00 AM

2 Comments:

Anonymous had this to say:: I love it! Of course I would love anything to do with a list! I may post a few for myself. On behalf of their future wives let me say: Well done, Mom. Well done.

Cheri; February 16, 2010 at 3:10 AM
Susanne had this to say:: Ha ha!! This is great! I just spent two hours last Sunday night "Teaching" my kids how to clean their rooms. I will definitely be posting this where they can see it!!

One problem: My kids treat ALL clothing lying around as "dirty clothes" and I end up with TWICE the laundry. Any advice on how to curb that one??; February 25, 2010 at 10:25 AM