Yesterday the big girls were singing their own praises for getting their morning checklists done before they were off to school. Bryn in particular was proud of the fact that she'd gotten her room cleaned up. I sent them away feeling gratified that they were applying all that teaching I've been doing over these last many years of their lives.
Then I went to their room. With the intention of putting a candy bar on their beds to tell them how proud I was of them for getting their jobs done (mind you; these girls have about 60 minutes of "work" to do each morning and an hour and a half to do it in. SO many mornings they tell me they don't have enough time blah blah blah...)
yes, that is the inside of their closet. Note the empty hangers hung above the pile of clothing which is on the ground below...
sigh.
I felt like eating the candy bars I'd carried down to give to them, out of pity for myself and the vast amount of work in parenting I have before me.
A mother's work is never done
(and appearantly yesterday, the girls' work wasn't done either)
6 comments:
hear hear...in the end it will be worth all the time and effort we put into it, but sometimes it seems like a big job!
HA! I remember when Jenny & I trying to pull this on Mom, stuff in the closets, stuff under the beds, stuff stuffed into drawers. Stick with them KT, cleanliness is indeed something that is taught.
but DO cheer their efforts! focus only on what they did right, and it will go a long way towards inspiring them. longer than the attention on what they *didn't* do right will. the candy bar will reinforce that it's important to try. in a separate setting (fHE?) you can talk about taking pride in one's work, doing one's best, a job worth doing is worth doing well, or other such concepts. they'll connect the dots eventually. i'm impressed that they do an hour's worth of stuff every morning. go graham kids! ♥
we have similar issues with what is clean at our house too. They always tell me their room is clean until I ask: what about the closet? under your bed? on top of your desk? clothes put away where they belong?
So they always have to go back and "double check" before I come to check it off. I always threaten to chuck anything I find out of place.(that rarely happens - but enough to make them believe I might - so they get it cleaned up).
Good luck. Let us know if you find a solution.
This is a never ending problem for us as well. I was such a perfectionist when i was little that I had to leave a room that I cleaned knowing that it was the cleanest it could prossibly be. My kids are nothing like me. They cut ever corner they possibly can. How do you teach a kid to take pride in a job well done? I'll never know.
Oh, how I relate. I wish my daughters could be as OCD as myself, but instead I think their goal on this earth is to make me relax and change - they get this from their father. I am glad I am not alone when it comes to teaching tweens that a clean room does not mean stacks of stuff on the dresser, clothes on the floor and stuff under the bed. I think one day I lose it!
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