I guess this is what it takes sometimes

This morning I asked Kaeli and Paige to clean their room. As usual, before too long I heard arguing and screaming. It's always the same argument. Kaeli complains and makes Paige's life miserable because she blames the mess on Paige. Paige picks up stuff at a snail's pace in hopes that Kaeli will get most of it done before she "has time" to do much. Well, today I decided I'd had enough. I walked up to their room with 2 big garbage bags in my hand and a scowl on my face. No doubt I was mad!! I told them not to worry about cleaning the room because I was going to do it for them. I proceeded to walk through the room filling my garbage bags as quickly as I could. The girls were hysterical because I have thrown their toys away before--so they knew I would follow through. They begged and pleaded and I just kept right on working and ignoring. By the time I was done they had settled down and were making their beds. I told them to make their beds while I was "cleaning" or I'd take their blankets and sheets, too. So, once we were done Kaeli calmly asked if I could just put the bags away and let them earn their stuff back instead of throwing it away. I agreed (which was my plan all along, anyway). I didn't touch underneath their beds and I didn't "clean" anything that was already in boxes or toy boxes. So, I put the 2 big bags full of stuff in the hallway and told them I'd give them one bag if they organized the toys that were left and thoroughly clean out from under their beds. Of course, the rule was that if I heard any arguing or complaining then the deal was off and I'd put the stuff in the basement for a month. After about 20 min I checked on them and they were doing a wonderful job!! Working together and everything! I helped with the last few things and then brought the first bag in. They were so unbelievably excited that it was actually kind of funny. I dumped the bag and told them they would earn bag 2 back if they put away and organized all the stuff from bag 1 (with no arguing or complaining, of course). By the end of it, they had all their stuff back and the room was completely clean and organized.

In the end, I decided I kind of like this method. Their room was such a mess that it was overwhelming anyway. So, by gathering up all the junk littering the floor it made the mess a little less intimidating. Then, by giving the bags back one at a time it kept them motivated and kept the mess manageable. Maybe next time I won't even have to get mad since I know I'll have a plan of action if the arguing and complaining starts. Of course, it would be nice if the room never got that bad in the first place--but I think that's just a dream.