Clean Rooms
Last week Patti took a few days off and went to Nantucket with a girl friend. She flew down early Sunday morning out of Boston and came back Tuesday afternoon, so I had the kids (ages 6, 4, 2) for three days. When we got back from the airport on Sunday morning I decided to lay down some ground rules with the kids for the next two and a half days. And one rule was that each morning they had to pick up their rooms, make the beds and put things away before they could play or watch TV or color and stuff. So I lined them up, Emily, Ethan and Emerson in order, in the kitchen.
Dave: Ok guys, I want you to go upstairs and clean your rooms before we do anything else. Understood?
Emily (6): Yep
Ethan (4): Yes
Emerson (2): Yogurt drink
I then said “go” and off went Emily and Ethan, enthusiastically running out of the kitchen, through the dining room and up the stairs. Emerson kind of looked at me funny.
About 10 seconds later, I heard them bounding DOWN the stairs. I wasn’t even sure they made it to the landing at the top of the stairs.
Emily and Ethan: We’re done!!
I was skeptical, but didn’t want to call them out right away. Although knowing the state of their rooms before I gave my order, and they would have had to do something pretty amazing to clean up in a few seconds, I could have been wrong.
Me: Are you sure? If I go up there, your rooms will be straightened up? Beds made? Clothes put away? Books put away? Toys in their place.
Ethan: Yeah, I swear dad, it’s done.
Emily: I cleaned it earlier.
I was going to give them a warning, something like if the rooms are not in fact clean they could not watch TV or something, but didn’t want to start my three days off on a bad note. So I went up to their rooms, saw that Emily’s room was indeed fine, and instructed Ethan on what I mean by “clean”. For a 4 year old boy, the term “straight” and “clean” have little meaning, something right above no visible signs of a rug and right below the room looking like it was searched for gold by a zealous robber. Ethan put some toys in a box and slid it under his bed, so he thought was good to go, so he might have stretched the truth but not exactly lied.