We discovered recently that I have limits. When those limits are reached, I can, on occasion, snap. One such occasion happened a couple of weeks ago. It has been a battle for years with the girls to keep their room clean. A stressful battle. Unfortunately for them, I am stubborn and I determined I would win this battle and not give in. The limit of my ability to fight was approaching but I refused to give in and just let their room be messy. One night they had a slumber party. Emma and her friend were happily talking away, but Briley's friend kept coming to me. Finally she told me there was no room in Briley's bed for her. So I went to check it out. Think of a rat in it's lair. Briley had literally carved out a tiny place for her to curl up in to sleep-not even enough space to stretch out. I snapped. I threw everything on the floor to make space for her friend and said we would talk about this in the morning.
Well, morning came and Briley had a special outing with her grandparents for her 8th birthday and was gone all day. I decided this was my opportunity to take care of things once and for all (and she wasn't home to scream and yell at me as I gave away her most "prized possesion"). Perfect timing! So I purged. And purged more. For 7 hours I purged and cleaned their bedroom. At 11:49 pm (the girls went to sleep in my room) I finally finished.
The black bags are nearly 4 feet high and about 2 feet wide. 2 of them were trash, 2 were given to charity. The white bag went to a friend and the books went to some kids Andy's buddy knows.
Ahh, glorious success. Their room is absolutely clean. And they haven't even asked about things that are gone now. They spend so much more time in their room now. And it stays spotless. All I have to do is mention the black trash bags and they scurry around cleaning up before I can return with the trash bag. So I snapped. But I don't think it was so bad afterall!
Well, morning came and Briley had a special outing with her grandparents for her 8th birthday and was gone all day. I decided this was my opportunity to take care of things once and for all (and she wasn't home to scream and yell at me as I gave away her most "prized possesion"). Perfect timing! So I purged. And purged more. For 7 hours I purged and cleaned their bedroom. At 11:49 pm (the girls went to sleep in my room) I finally finished.
The black bags are nearly 4 feet high and about 2 feet wide. 2 of them were trash, 2 were given to charity. The white bag went to a friend and the books went to some kids Andy's buddy knows.
Ahh, glorious success. Their room is absolutely clean. And they haven't even asked about things that are gone now. They spend so much more time in their room now. And it stays spotless. All I have to do is mention the black trash bags and they scurry around cleaning up before I can return with the trash bag. So I snapped. But I don't think it was so bad afterall!
4 comments:
Mother of the Year award! That's awesome! You always hear that it's the job of kids to push the limits so they know where the boundaries are, and this time they really found out! If my mom had done this when I was a kid, I might not be the pack rat I am today! :)
WOw, 7 hours? That's incredible. I bet it looks great! We did this a month ago in the boys' room. The problem was, there was no where to step, unless you wanted a puncture wound on your feet from all of the tiny,pointy toys. THey have had the chance to pick out one toy each week to go back, we are up to 3 each, and the room stays so clean! I didn't have the heart to throw them out or give them away, but we have a great attic space that is easy to get to and we 'trade' toys. It's wonderful. They do spend alot more time in there these days because there is room to play!
WONDER MAMA! You go with your bad-oh no you didn't-let's nip this in the bud-laying down the law-cause I'm the mom, that's why-self! More power to ya sister! You rock!
oh my! LOL yes kaylee and I have that same battle! I have to go in there while she is at her dads and clean everything out, she is a collector of just about everything.
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