Call Me Mean

I am a broken record.

I tell my kids this but that means nothing to them in the age that they are growing up in.

My Disney Peter Pan record had a big scratch right when the Indians captured Wendy.
"And a band of indians....
And a band of indians....
And a band of indians.....
And a band of indians...."

Over and over until we knocked the needle a bit to get past the scratch.

I don't know if they will ever understand that analogy but I find myself repeating myself over and over.

Pick up your clothes off the floor.

Put your shoes in the mudroom bench.

Who left their socks scattered in the kitchen?

Put your school folder in your backpack.

Don't forget to clear off your cereal bowl.

I drive myself crazy so I'm SURE I drive my kids crazy.

I know what my problem is.  Say it once.  Expect obedience.  Punish disobedience.  Obedience the 2nd time is disobedience.  It sounds so simple, but for me....well, I must be hard-headed or just extremely merciful which is coming back to bite me.

I'm the queen of new systems to maintain order in my home.  Charts.  Stickers.  Reward systems.  Prizes.  Praise.  Ask the Fish Sticks.  (Rolling of the eyes...."Mom's got a new chart, everyone.")  They are fleeting and it's because of me.  I just can't seem to keep them all up.  OR they lose their motivation with my Fish Sticks.
 
So what's new in the Fish House?  The Lost and Found Box.  New Rule:  Every night after kids are tucked away, I pick up the house....all over....bedrooms included.  Anything OUT OF ITS PLACE gets put into my Lost and Found Box.  No daily reminders.  No repeated directions.  No mercy.  I'm not nagging.  I'm not aggravated.  Just a happy sweep of the house at 8:30.

So how do they redeem their prized possessions that they neglected to put where they belong?  They have a choice:  pay 25 cents per item (that would be 50 cents for a pair of shoes) OR do a chore that is equivalent to 25 cents (I keep a list of pay-worthy chores in my home management notebook.).

This is week 2.  I think 95% of the things you see in this box were collected on Days 1-4.  I think that means its working.

Call me mean, but the needle has been pushed off "And the band of indians...." and I think I've become sweeter because of it.  And what's better than a sweet Mama.....with a picked up house?  :)

Lost and Found Box