FHE

The kids and I have been clashing a lot lately when it comes to cleaning up. I tell them to do and check in on them periodically. I give them time limits and warnings and try to be patient. I tell them where to clean first and give them direction. I come down for the final inspection and things are NOT done. I want to go ballistic. I feel very conflicted because I am trying to not let them watch very much TV, but as a result toy bombs go off all over the house. If I let them watch TV the house would stay clean, but then they would be watching a lot of TV. So toy bombs it is, but after weeks of fighting about the cleaning I am wearing thin. So yesterday after finding the mess untouched, I wanted to scream and yell and throw all toys away, but came up with a different plan instead. For FHE I explained to the monkeys that there are kids out there that do not have a mom and dad and because of that do not have toys. Some of these kids stay in a place called Child Haven. We decided to go through their toys and books and pick out ones they do not play with or have a lot of extra and give those to Child Haven. Grant and I got to pick the ones we wanted them to keep that we thought were good for their learning and development. The kids got to tell us their favorites, and after that we all made suggestions and compiled a box of toys to give to others, a box of damaged things to throw away, and ended with a clean play room and a happier mom. The kids did great and were excited to be able to give to others. It was a good lesson for us all!