GETTING YOUR KIDS TO HELP CLEAN UP

Don't you feel like THIS is the kind of mess you deal with on a daily basis? It looks like a tornado hit. I clean up the house every night before I go to bed. The next morning, I wake up, get breakfast for the kids, make the beds, do a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher, and get dressed. By the time I've done that,  THIS is what my living room looks like.  It gets a little frustrating when I feel like all I'm doing each day is picking up toys. I'm really trying to focus on getting my kids to help out a little more. It's important that we TEACH them to pick up after themselves. Not only does it make our lives a lot easier, but it prepares them for real life. I recently read Parenting With Love And Logic (Updated and Expanded Edition). I learned so many great things from that book including some advice on getting kids to pick up.

Here is a little example I got from the book.

PARENT: "Hey, honey, there's a lot of your stuff laying around the house today. It's kind of getting in the way. Do you want to pick it up, or would you rather I picked it up?"

CHILD: "You pick it up."

PARENT: "Well, the advantage of your picking it up is that you'll get to see it again. If I pick up, I'll keep the stuff. So you might want to rethink your decision on that. But you don't have to rush. I'll know what you want. If by lunchtime I still see your stuff out there, I'll know you decided to have me pick it up. If I see that it's gone, then I'll know that you decided to pick it up for yourself."

I've learned that it takes a lot of patience, but I'm trying to be consistent. 

Here is a cute video of Oliver cleaning. It is soooo funny! He just started doing this one day, and I've noticed he does it a lot now. He's making me proud :)