When Lance was here Saturday, he walked into the kitchen to get a drink and we heard him say, "Holy Cow!" Dax looked at me and said, "He saw the kids' room." Yeah...it isn't the cleanest. Actually, it is ALWAYS a total disaster. I work on it with them at least once a week and a day later it is back to looking like this...
I've organized it and re-organized it dozens of times. I've tried to make it easy for them to put things away. I also go through things and throw away and DI stuff every few months. I have explained to them numerous times how to keep their room clean. I don't know what else to do.
So after Lance mentioned how crazy their room is, he said, "Looks like Gooney Monster needs to come visit." I had totally forgotten about Gooney. It was a big green cloth sack with eyes and a huge drawsting mouth that my mom made when we were little kids. Gooney came and ate all the toys that we would not keep picked up. I think he would keep them for a week. I can't remember. But bless my mama for being so creative. And for dealing with the messes of EIGHT children.
I told the kids about Gooney and that they had until bed tonight to pick up any toys they wanted to save from Gooney's grasp. I think they thought it was just a big fun game because they were fine to get all their toys picked up for them, even if they were taken away. This is what our Gooney made off with tonight after the kids fell asleep.
Gooney will visit again in one week. I don't know if this tactic will work. Eventually, they might start to get it when they have no toys left. I am not sure, though, because Preslie said earlier today, "If Gooney eats all of our toys, we'll just get more for Christmas!" Um, no.
I'm still thinking about the specifics for our Gooney, like what it will take to get their toys back, or consequences for their continued tornado-like play habits. I realize they are very imaginative kids and get very into their playing, and I appreciate that. And we also don't have cable so their days consist of making more messes than kids that sit in front of the TV. But they've got to know that this is a ridiculous way to live.
The sad thing is, I wouldn't be surprised if I have to clear another path to their beds to tuck them in tomorrow night... More on this subject later...
11 comments:
Oh my gosh, we had one too! It had a song that went with it--I think it was from a Joyschool tape. Something like 'Here comes gunny bag, here comes gunny bag. Yum yum yummy. He eats left over toys and keeps 'em in his tummy.' Totally freaked me out.
No Way! I thought he only came to eat our toys. Oh, yup. We were Joy School kids too.
I tried this with K but mine was a turkey that gobbled up toys. It worked great as a deterrent for a while and then, he just said, you know I'm fine with you taking the toys to the DI, another kid can clean them up. So, I had to take it one step further which was to have him actually drop off the bag at the DI, that actually killed him. He wanted to go buy them back. Honestly, since that experience, we don't have much of a problem with toys. Clothes on the other hand.... still working on a threat for that one. He would be happy with one pair of jeans and two shirts. He soooo doesn't care! Boys! Also, long post I know. I finally bought an organizer from IKEA that saved the day. It has pull out bins that I can sort the toys and he can pull out a bin or two at a time. Before it was throwing all the things out of the toy box. I put photos of the toys on them when he couldn't read, and now we just label them. It cuts down on the sorting a TON!!! So worth the $60 I gave to IKEA.
I think my girls are more afraid of me then they would be of a gooney bag. If they don't clean up their toys and clothes I simply tell them that the vacuum will eat them up and it seems to be working so far. I am a "mean" mom as McKenna would say :)I will have to remember the gooney bag idea when they figure out that the vacuum would burn up if I tried it on one of their toys. haha I love being a Mom!
What a great idea. I hope it works.
that is a great idea, i hope it works for you and that little mack is getting so cute I cant stand it. So funny! Kids Kids kids!!!!
Tristie - I was just thinking about Gooney Monster! How funny. I remember at the end of the week Gooney would throw up and Mom would set the timer for 5 minutes. Whatever we could put away in that time we could keep. Otherwise it went to DI. Of course I think the tactic changed when we were older. I think we had to pay money to get our stuff out of jail? Mom was so creative . . . like mother like Tristie!
I hope this works better for you than it did for me. I know several families who have done it with success and several who haven't.
My kids started to pick up only the toys they cared about (but still played with all over them). It just killed me to take all those toys to DI, I just imagined all the dollars going down the drain. I valued my kids' toys more than they did! I've since mostly outgrown that.
We had a little more success, when they were older, and told them that Santa checked their old toys to make sure that they were taking care of them before he would give them new ones. This idea still works with the teens, especially because their toys are smaller and cost more money.
It works a little better now that we have teenagers and they need their Spanish book or their blowdryer or mascara (gasp!) and we charge them chores. "Sorry you left your hair products out. Because I had to clean those up, I didn't have time to mop the kitchen. Feel free to mop the kitchen and you can have your blowdryer back after that." Works for most of them.
None of the above mentioned things have worked for one of my children. (Any guesses who?) Maybe some kids are just wired that way?
I like your way better than ours. Our gooney monster eats the toys while they are awake and refusing to clean...Maybe it would be better to do it when they are sleeping.
I don't remember what our gooney monster was called when I was little, but we had to earn our toys back, one at a time. We'd be extra nice, or clean our room, and my parents would say, "Wow, you just earned a toy back! Which one would you like?"
My kids are tornados, too. I'll be trying this before the week is over.
what a good idea! I'll remember that ...and don't feel bad...that's what my almost 2 year olds room looks like most always:)
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