Monday, February 15, 2010

Love and Logic Cleaning Our Room

My daughter changes her clothes at least 8 times a day. She has free access to her closet and she has a wicker basket where I keep dress up costumes. She loves to change her clothes. I think of it as a way for her to express herself. It's also a way for us to share the control. I need her to get dressed for the day or get her pajamas on for bed and she gets to pick out what she is going to wear and how it goes on her body. (Most of her clothes end up backwards.)

One problem I was running into was the incredible mess she leaves behind in her bedroom after each clothing change. By the end of each day, I could hardly walk through her room and I had a hard time distinguishing which clothes were dirty and which clothes were clean.

My first attempt to fix the problem was to take away the privilege of going into her closet for a couple of days. I put a lock on the closet door and explained to her that we were going to take a break from her closet. In a couple of days she could try going into her closet as long as she picked up her clothes. ...Well, she gained access again to her closet, but it didn't stay clean.

So, putting on my consultant hat, I started to think of another solution. Maybe she doesn't understand how to keep her closet clean. Organization is something that needs to be taught or at least introduced. I collected four equally sized boxes and labeled them each with a clothing item including one for shirts and sweaters, one for pants and skirts, one for dresses, and one for pajamas. The boxes not only have the word for the clothing item, but the picture as well. (This was Grandma's idea.:)). ...Before nap and bed, we spend time picking up her clothes and putting them in the right boxes. She loves matching the clothes to the right box. Right now, all I am focusing on is the activity of putting the clothes away. The other benefit of this activity is that we do the activity together. She loves that.  I'm not providing consequences just yet if the clothes are not put away. I have to figure out when the right time for that is.

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