Sittin' on my Hands....

So, as most kids are - Bebe is a tad messy in her bedroom.

She comes by it naturally.

It's genetic probably. Handed down by me. And her Dad (although he'll probably say "Nuh-uh!")

So, every once and awhile, I'll go in and help her do a massive clean up in her room. I even cleaned it (took me 3 solid hours) while she was at her Grandma's this summer.

Other times, I'll give her a checklist of things to put away and try to keep the mess at bay.

Well, this past weekend, I asked her to clean up her room.

She did not. Well, technically she put things away, but not to the extent of calling her room clean.

So, then I tried helping her break it down into chunks for her and giving her specific things to do each night this week - with a reward of Auntie coming up to eat lunch with her on Friday.

Tonight's the last night of her room cleaning to see if she gets her super special Auntie lunch tomorrow. Since I feel like I have contributed to this (you know, the whole genetics thing), I figured that I should help her out.

Only, I KNOW that if I go in there and "help" her, it'll turn into me cleaning and her dancing. This has happened. There's video proof of it - I think on my husband's facebook page.

So, I decide, I'll go in there and sit on my hands and only offer encouragement. And guidance. And resist all urges to get up and start putting things in their bins.

I was successful, but all the time I'm thinking in my head... "You're going to keep that deflated balloon from like, a month ago?" and "Really, child, umm, you could have put that away right after you used it..." but I kept my mouth shut and just kept helping her keep on track.

I'd love to tell you that she made it and her room is so sparkling that I have to wear shades. That would be lying to you. Lying is bad.

She made a good dent in it, and I think with one or two more sessions with me sitting on my hands, she'll get there and then hopefully have learned a life lesson.

Or we'll be back to the mom encouragement tour - coming monthly to a 7 year old's bedroom near you.

(BTW if I rambled on or didn't make sense, it's because I just took an allergy pill - the pollen / fungus / tree poop / etc around here is CRAZY!)