Living with a pre-teen

One of the ongoing battles I'm having with my Big Girl these days revolves around getting her to put her clothes away - she can't be bothered with taking the time to put them away and then gets frustrated because she can't find anything when it's time to get dressed for school. (or dance, or whatever)

My mom saved this cartoon for me - and it is so appropriate for the current situation:

Can you relate?

:-)

Comments

[LizzieMade]

Funnily enough me and my DS had a conversation this morning, about how he knows where everything is, until I "tidy up" his room! I said "Yes, it's on the floor" - "but I know Where on the floor, until you move it!". Still, he doesn't have to worry about this problem very often, since I rarely tidy his room on my own - it's usually a whole family project, so he gets to decide where everything goes when it's put "away"!

I love the cartoon about the floor hatches. You could try giving her a bit lidded hamper to chuck her clothes into - the novelty may appeal and at least she'd know her stuff was in there somewhere! Of course, if it starts out clean and ironed, there's no guarantee it'll stay that way...

Or you could try bribery... or beating her up (well, maybe not!)... or tantrums (yours, not hers!!)... or cry... Or just ignore it altogether and refuse to engage, so she gets bored of that ploy and finds a better way to get your attention! Hee hee...

Good luck then!

[Lois Houston]

You're so right! I have taken the "pretend it's not there" route and I just ignore the mess and wait it out and eventually she gets tired of it and cleans up. It's just frustrating when the clothes start out clean and fresh and end up in an unknown state mixed up in a pile on the floor!! At some point she will outgrow it, I hope!!