My Kids Bedroom Dilemma

To me my kids are constant entertainment. They do and say so many things that on some days you just can’t keep up.
My son is the “helper”. He is eager to make dinner, or to generally help around the house. He really gets stuck in. There are days when he’s just not interested but on most days he is very good. He has even gone as far as asking a friend of mine if he could clean the leaves out of her pool while we were visiting her one day. On the other hand he despises cleaning his room.
If you send him to clean up his mess he would rather hide under the bed and make a track for his cars or read a book. I just can’t understand it. When push comes to shove, I’ll find that he has found every possible space including his hiding place with all of the toys and washing that was once scattered across the floor. He’s a lot like me when I was a kid… - hmm – now that I think of it he is far more like my mom.
I always heard the story from my Gran about when she sent my mom to clean her room. According to her, on this particular day you couldn’t see the floor. *sounds like my boy*.
After a while she went to check on my mom’s progress with her cleaning project. My Gran explained her surprise at how neat and tidy the room seemed to be, in my imagination I saw the room sparkling with cleanliness. She explained further that she thought the cupboard interior would match the near perfection of the bedroom. To her disappointment when she opened the cupboard doors a wave of my mom’s once compacted belongings fell out on to her head. *oh yes – definitely a carbon copy of my child*
My daughter usually keeps her room pretty tidy. She is not one who enjoys general cleaning so I think she keeps her room tidy so that she doesn’t have to be too bothered with day to day tidying.
Tonight was one of those nights where Fairy’s inner drama-queen came out to play. Oh when she doesn’t want to do something she will do just about anything to get out of it. The things that she thinks of to get out of doing her chores are actually quite funny. I sent both children to pack their toys away this evening and I kind of expected some tricks because the two have been very argumentative all day.
I went to check on the book worm and moaned a sentence or two through the door. I walked up the passage and lo and behold the Fairy had tried her first trick. She had shut the door and told me that her toys were neatly packed away. *sometimes I wonder if they think I am a complete fool* I sent her straight back into the room to pick up the toys that had been dumped on the floor.
I then left the two for a bit while I loaded the washing machine, hoping they understood I meant business.
When I glanced up the passage the Fairy’s light was off and the floor appeared to be clean from that distance. On closer inspection I saw that she had now cleared a pathway at her door, so that it could be left ajar and it would look as though she had made the effort required.
It ended up being third time lucky for her. I am yet to discover where the bookworm has hidden his stash.
I wasn’t the best at keeping my room tidy as a kid either. I used to use hiding places too. I was not as bad as my mom but I definitely had my moments. My turn around came one day when I had left a large amount of junk underneath my bed. One night I heard scratching and rattling and ended up sleeping in the lounge because I had visions of a large rat making a nest under my bed. In the morning when I returned to tidy up a quivering Rocky *my brothers dog* was hiding there. He would hide under our beds for days if he was scared. I was relieved but I have never left junk under my bed again!
I wonder if my cats would do me a favour and scare the heck out of my kids pretending to be a rat in their mess.