Comments for blog.limedaley.com/post/beditme-cleanup

Comment #2902

2010-10-06T23:41:14Z

Hooray! I'm so glad to pass on something that works for others, too. (:

Comment #2901

2010-10-06T21:47:50Z

Thanks for the bead jar idea. We've been using it for the past several days as motivation for Hannah and Daniel to clear their own places after meals and snacks. That's one area where I felt like I was a broken record. Today, I went into the kitchen and actually thought maybe they hadn't gotten a snack afterall because there was no mess. It turns out they had just put everything away!

Comment #2900

2010-09-25T23:05:14Z

It's true! It's awesome! (I'm using exclamation points, too.) I've seen Before: the weary, dragged-out, moving through molasses, this is child slavery attitude, and now the After. Unbelievable enthusiasm, and they do a quick and reasonably thorough job. (Inspector Dad doesn't let them get away with much, though he may be of a differing opinion.)

Once when dinner was on the table but Jon was still busy at the computer, Noah suggested, "Let's clean up while we're waiting!" And one night we had been busy till quite late, and expected to have a cranky cleanup (at least on Grandma's part), only to discover that Jonathan had done the whole thing himself, earlier in the day!

And no, this doesn't stop them from having fun and making messes, getting Legos and craft projects everywhere. But it does effectively stop the messes from snowballing to the point where the job looks impossible, even to me.

It's remarkable.