Confiscated!

 

About a month ago, I was OVER Laura Ann wrecking her room everyday & refusing to clean or even help clean it up. So, on a whim, without ANY thought given to how this might play out, I took a garbage bag in her room & put everything on the floor in it & put it upstairs. I told her that I would do this everyday until she started making some efforts to clean her room. I expected her to be VERY upset about this, but she wasn't in the LEAST upset about it. I did the same thing the next day & by the third day when I asked her to clean her room, she replied, "That's ok, you can just get a garbage bag & put it upstairs in the attic." WHAT????? So, I did. I collected 3 total garbage bags, plus several bins & her baby doll bed & she never wavered or seemed to care, even with ALL of her favorite toys gone, as well as her blanky. Her room was basicly empty of any toys. She would occasionally ask for something & I would remind her that she lost it because she didn't clean her room. After several days, I realized that my BRIGHT IDEA was not working & that I had no strategy for how to resolve what I had started. At this point, I told her that when she started showing me that she could clean her room, I would give her some things back everyday. After 4 LONG weeks (during which I thought she would never give in & clean), she FINALLY started making some efforts & got a few things back each day. Last week, when I was getting out Christmas decorations, I got tired of stepping over the garbage bags & decided she was ready for a second chance. She helped unpack it all back in her room while promising to keep her room clean from now on. So far, so good. We'll see how long it lasts. And I thought Daniel was my strong-willed child- looks like I've got 2 of them!!

*Gran- you can rest peacefully now & quit worrying about 'poor' Laura Ann having 'nothing' to play with due to the 'cruel' actions of her mom. I assure you that you spent lots more time worrying about it than she did!