Nance Confer

"I have no problem advising my daughter that the toys she leaves in the walkway 1. will be a hazard to anyone walking thru when the lights are off, 2. will get broken when and if I step on them, and 3. she is the one who took them out so she is responsible for picking them back up. She doesn't like the putting them back up part but will do it when she finds out that she won't get computer privileges or some other (dare I say it here <BWG>) punishment if she doesn't."

How would she find that out?

Nobody likes the putting them back part. But I don't get punished for not filing stuff when I should. Even if it means I lose things or have a hard time finding them later. Which usually puts me in a frenzy of filing. :) (Office stuff is my personal concern here, not toys, as I have several different things going on that all generate too much paper.)

Our 21-month-old nephew does not get punished when his toys are, literally, all over the house. We pick them up. Mostly I pick them up. DH does when he's around and when he thinks of it. And the older kids help if I ask them to. Which I do when it gets too hectic.

The older kids each pick up their own rooms as much as they want -- DD is pretty tidy, DS is buried in there somewhere. :)

I don't see why this --

So do I learn to walk over the mess or happily pick it up and if it is
> destroyed stop buying more cause frankly it is starting to cost a lot.
>
> Loving Father
>
-- wasn't a perfectly good answer to start with. Minus the put upon feelings from LF.

Nance







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