- Joined
- Mar 22, 2006
- Messages
- 13,367
- Reaction score
- 2
As you are all well aware that I have a 5 year old. Well recently she has taken to going upstairs and pilfering through everything, the clothes dressers, closets, bathroom, everything.
Last night I was stunned when I came home from work at midnight to find that my room had been totally trashed within hours! My bedsheets and covers were thrown all over the floor, all of her toys had been strewn out all over the place. Clothes, dirty and clean, were scattered about and mixed beyond recognition as to what was clean and what wasn't.
I spent two hours today cleaning up just one room and getting it ready to be vacuumed with the dyson. I left the other room for her to clean up - its her playroom/guest bedroom.
In that room alone, her toys were completely out of the bins, clothes taken out of storage bins and thrown about, all of the clothes in the closet were pulled down and thrown all over the bed. Those close had been sorted by size and were planned to be put in a garage sale this weekend, but now all that work which took and entire weekend to complete is now undone.
Tonight my DD is not allowed to do anything except clean, which she put up a great fit about. She had a complete meltdown once over it, and I told her no playtime, no toys, NOTHING until everybit of it was cleaned up. I didn't care if it took her an eternity, she was going to clean it up.
After she cleans all this up - I intend to impose an extended punishment to serve as a reminder of her wrongdoing. I have thought about locking all of her playthings up for a week, but that seems a bit too draconian - although it would be memorable for the rest of her life. I am going to figure out a way to lock her out of my room while I'm away. I can tell her to stay out of my room while I'm gone, but she never remembers and makes a mess in there anyway and refuse to clean it up. I understand that 5 year olds are messy, but she absolutely refuses to clean up after herself and would rather have an all out tantrum for an hour than to clean up her mess.
Any suggestions?
Last night I was stunned when I came home from work at midnight to find that my room had been totally trashed within hours! My bedsheets and covers were thrown all over the floor, all of her toys had been strewn out all over the place. Clothes, dirty and clean, were scattered about and mixed beyond recognition as to what was clean and what wasn't.
I spent two hours today cleaning up just one room and getting it ready to be vacuumed with the dyson. I left the other room for her to clean up - its her playroom/guest bedroom.
In that room alone, her toys were completely out of the bins, clothes taken out of storage bins and thrown about, all of the clothes in the closet were pulled down and thrown all over the bed. Those close had been sorted by size and were planned to be put in a garage sale this weekend, but now all that work which took and entire weekend to complete is now undone.
Tonight my DD is not allowed to do anything except clean, which she put up a great fit about. She had a complete meltdown once over it, and I told her no playtime, no toys, NOTHING until everybit of it was cleaned up. I didn't care if it took her an eternity, she was going to clean it up.
After she cleans all this up - I intend to impose an extended punishment to serve as a reminder of her wrongdoing. I have thought about locking all of her playthings up for a week, but that seems a bit too draconian - although it would be memorable for the rest of her life. I am going to figure out a way to lock her out of my room while I'm away. I can tell her to stay out of my room while I'm gone, but she never remembers and makes a mess in there anyway and refuse to clean it up. I understand that 5 year olds are messy, but she absolutely refuses to clean up after herself and would rather have an all out tantrum for an hour than to clean up her mess.
Any suggestions?