Originally posted on January 29th, I am sharing this story with the ‘Yeah Write‘ community today.
On Tuesday January 24th, I posted two pictures for my Project 366. Included with the pictures was a brief explanation of why the boys now shared one room, with a kid-given promise of a clean toy room on Friday January 27th.
Today, I give you an update on the promise and the playroom.
The day of the big move, Joe headed to the calendar and wrote down the day and time he and Charlie were to pick up the playroom.
Realizing the sheer size of their task, I encouraged them to start on the project early. Alas, Joe always referred me to the calendar and the day and time set aside for the project.
Looking at the room on Thursday, I wondered how such a disaster could become neat and tidy, when boys are left in control.
Come to fine out, I needn’t worry.
Out of their room shortly after 6am on Friday morning, I heard the boys rummaging around the playroom. I listened to muffled discussions taking place about what goes where and who does what. I sat in bed listening, smiling and writing out a blog post in my head.
“I cannot wait to show Stasha the cleaned room.” I thought to myself. Stasha tweeted me on Thursday to check on the status of the room, and I quickly tweeted back that it was not yet Friday.
Then I heard an all too familiar voice uttering an all too familiar statement, “Fine. I’m not helping anymore.”
Joe, our newly turned 7ry old, tends to take the lead role when it comes to teamwork with his brother, Charlie, an over halfway to 6yr old 5yr old.
At the risk of stereotyping, Joe is a typical project manager in the sense that he stands and barks orders, while the minions do the work. When the minions refuse, Joe will remove himself from the situation, claiming he did all he could but it was of no use, because his minions were not up to the task.
Even though I heard Joe walk off the job, the two had spent at least 15 minutes working on the room without interruption. I did not expect to find a perfectly cleaned playroom, but I did expect to find proof of progress.
Before I peeked in the playroom, my husband greeted me with news. “When I talked to my Mom last night, she invited the boys to spend the night at their house tonight.”
Hmmm…. We had no plans for the weekend, but if the boys went to their grandparent’s house, Rob and I could go on a date. I kind of liked the sound of that idea.
Then I peeked into the playroom and found this:
Based on the calendar, Joe and Charlie were to work on the playroom that night – from 6:30 until 6:45. As a parent, it is important for me to hold the children to task. Life is full of tasks needing our attention, and many times the tasks are dreadful and tedious; but, free time and play time increases the sooner we learn to quickly tackle tedious tasks. The boys needed to learn this lesson.
Then again, if they kept to the schedule, they would miss spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa. And, if they missed spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa, I would miss going out on a date with my husband.
What to do, what to do …
“Hey Boys, Have fun with Grandma and Grandpa!”
I’ll teach them the lesson another day. (Thank goodness for grandparents and doors.)
.|.
Lenore's Thoughts Exactly 
The saga continues. I’ll look forward to next week’s update. Meanwhile, have a wonderful date night.
Yes, we’ll see what happens. And we did have a nice date night, thanks. We stayed home – made nachos and watched movies. Perfect!
I’m not a parent, Lenore, so is this one of those “Lose the battle to win the war?” 😀
Exactly! And honestly, Amy, out of sight out of mind. As long as the mess stays contained – why fight the battle?
Hi,
Hope you have a great time out, and really enjoy yourself. 🙂
I have a feeling you will be cleaning up this room sooner or later. 🙂
Hi Mags. Rob and I stayed home and enjoyed nachos and movies. It was nice.
And that room …. I’m not cleaning it. Nope, nope, nope. I’ll just keep the door closed. 🙂
Have a smashing night out. Doors are therefor a reason,right?
They are, Stasha – doors serve a very important purpose in homes. Who knew?!
We did have a nice night, thanks.
(Thank goodness for grandparents and doors.) Ha! I agree completely…
Woo hoo!! Seriously. Thank goodness.
Sounds like a win-win situation to me. 🙂
Sounds the same to me, too, Jackie. Everyone won that round. 🙂
Hahahaha! Out of SIGHT out of MIND.
EXACTLY!!!
You don’t suppose the boys put the grandparents up to inviting them over do you? 🙂
Oh, and I thought it was cute he allotted 15 minutes for clean-up! Sounds like something I’d do.
That’s hilarious, Patti. I never thought of that. I better check the phone records. (hahahahaha)
The first day’s almost always about assessment, anyway…
great projects can’t be rushed!
🙂
Hahahahaha! Good point. In fact, the boys need to have a meeting and schedule a meeting to design a plan of action. Then, another meeting will need to be scheduled to see if the plan is cost effective. They must not rush into this project – good point.
Love it. You made the right choice. Besides, what’s the point of cleaning it up? It will be messed up again 15 minutes later! Glad you enjoyed your date night.
No truer words. The clean-up will result in another mess within minutes. Good point, Susan.
Sounds like you made a great choice to me 🙂
Thanks, Bella. P.S. The door is still closed. 🙂
Good call, Lenore. The mess will still be there when they’re ready, but a night out is a rare event.
Good to see you, Charles. The mess is still there – apparently they are not ready yet. 🙂 I only stress about it when I open the door. Ignorance is bliss. And the date night (at home) was worth it.
Hi Lenore! Visiting by way of Yeah Write. I don’t have children myself, but I know I had conversations like this with my younger brother on a regular basis. I’m totally a project manager myself, although in our situation, I always ended up doing the work in the end anyway. LOL Hope you enjoyed your date!
Hey Abby! Thanks for coming over to my neck of the woods. I appreciate the visit. I wish my oldest was a project manager that got the job done! (smile) We did enjoy the date, and it was worth closing the door.
I can SO relate! I would be a mess without doors to hide the clutter and disasters…typically in my closets where I tend to hide the chaos 😉
The kids get the chaos honestly … our closet door stays closed, too. Gee. I never made the correlation. Thanks for that, Jen. *sigh* 🙂
This was a happy happy post Lenore. 🙂 At the end of it, every one is happy and everyone is the winner! Just like the happy endings of movies.
Thanks, Arindam. Everyone was happy in the end. The room is still a disaster but we are still happy, so well – it works. 🙂
I could truly feel the tension rising within myself wondering, “She’s going to choose date night, right??” Thanks for being a sensible mom. I find that closed doors work on nearly all housekeeping issues except for that blasted open-floor plan family room and kitchen. Maybe a cloak of invisibility? The Sham Wow guy can get back to me when he comes up with that. -Ellen
Ack. Sorry for the build up of tension. Can you imagine if I had not chosen date-night? Hmmm… I wonder if it would have generated more hits and comments. (Giggle, giggle.) I’ll have to save a post like that for April Fool’s Day.
And you are right – I love the idea of an open floor plan, but with kids – doors are fabulous. Yes, a cloak of invisibility is needed. ASAP. I’ll see if I can make some calls. Until then – good luck! (And, thank you for visiting me in my neighborhood!)
BTW, I was complimenting you on the rising tension. I appreciated the storytelling quality of it all. 🙂 But more importantly, have you made those calls yet about the invisibility cloak?
Aw thanks! With regards to the phone calls… I’ve left 5 messages, and now I am on hold. 🙂
closed the door, walk away, no probs.
Yeah, it really is that simple, too. But, I admit – I find myself twitching a bit when I walk by the room and the door is open. (smile)
Thank you for coming to the neighborhood. I appreciate your visit.
It’s ALL about the doors! What’s the point of having a toy room/play room if not so that you can shut the door and say “ain’t MY play space?” I’d say win win for you all.
I like that mantra, Deborah. “Ain’t MY play space.” I’ll take it. Thank you for that. (smile)
I appreciate you stopping by my neighborhood and visiting. Cheers!
Yes, we have a lot of thankfulness for doors over our way as well! Good choice, you can clean anytime, you can’t always have a date night. I hope it was fun 🙂
It was fun, Andrea. Thank you very much for stopping by my place for a visit.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Andrea. Thank you for visiting. For the record – the mess still exists. (smile) The door stays closed. 🙂
Okay, that is totally NOT where I was expecting you to go with that story, and I LOVED IT. Good job, Mama!
Woo hoo! A surprise ending! I love it when I can pull off a surprise ending. Glad you liked it, Iris. And, I greatly appreciate you visiting my neighborhood.
Knowing me and my stubborn streak this story would have ended much differently. But reading it I’ll know I’ll do better next time the opportunity presents itself. Well done you.
Well, I really did contemplate NOT going out. They need to learn responsibility (and organization). Alas, it will wait. (And, we had a nice time vegging at home – just the two of us.) Thank you for visiting! I appreciate you taking the time to read my post.
I’m impressed. I don’t think I could have just closed the door. Good for you!
Maybe I’ve inspired you, Jackie?! Or not. (smile) At this point, I wouldn’t know where to begin with the cleaning. If the boys have fun in the room, that works for me. Seriously- thank goodness for that door. (Thank you for visiting!)
Sometimes it’s just better to close the door and worry about it later…good for you whatever makes your life easier!
Shannon, thank you so much for stopping by my ‘place’. I appreciate you paying a visit. Definitely … closing the door and walking away was the easiest of the choices – well, it took the least amount of work. (smile) I look forward to regularly reading your blog.