Cleaning Up The Pigpen

Tonight the house was, in Logan's words, "a pig-pen."  I had let everything go today, and we had a photo shoot in the dining room, compliments of our friend, AnneJisca.  So, yes, it was a pig-pen - toys, clothes, whatever, strewn everywhere.  So, just before bed-time, we told the boys we were having a "15 minute clean-up".  Or did we say 5 minutes??  Anyway, I had a little brain wave that actually worked really well this time.  I told the boys to count the things they put away - in the proper place.  I told them they could count every toy, sock, etc.  They seemed enthusiastic and we all dove in.  In about 15 or 20 minutes, Keith, Caleb, Logan and I put away approximately 500 items!!!  Now, probably 100 or more of those were legos, but still, I thought it was quite an impressive number.  And the difference it made was amazing.  I didn't offer any reward for the most items (Caleb would always win a contest like that!) or any money.  I momentarily considered a penny per item, but decided against it.  For this time anyway, the thrill of counting was enough.  Until they were in bed, then Logan said he wished they could have a reward.  So we got to have a smallish lesson on the reward of a clean house, etc. :-)  Anyway, there's my happy little story for the day.  Let me know if you try it and how many things you put away.