Clean my room day
“Vihaan, remove your things from the bed and my table.. clear it all NOWWWW! Vikram shouted.
“But I don’ have any space for my things Anna” shrieked my 6 year old.
“Then go somewhere else.”The teenager was furious and told him to leave the room.
I remembered how a few years ago, Vikram would drag his feet and resist cleaning his room and finally I would give in and do it myself. Or I would hear in just 2 minutes “Mom, I’m done” and he would rush off.
He would have made a path from the door to his bed while everything lay around in a heap. He got too bored while cleaning or sometimes did not bother to just start. It was easier for him to ignore or throw a fit if asked to clean up his room.
“I’d rather watch TV or chat with my friends” he would whine. But then we worked on an idea and things changed.
I pulled out a chart that Vikram had carefully hidden under a pile of books.
The chart read “GETTING MY ROOM IN ORDER IN 20 MINUTES”
We had made it 4 years ago.
“So this is how we are going to start again, now with Vihaan”, I smiled.
Before he could reply, Vihaan snatched the chart and began to read it aloud.
‘ I’M RESPONSIBLE . I AM GOING TO DO IT”!
“Yes, I will but I don’t know where to start” He squeaked .
“Anna, are you patient and willing to teach me. PLEEAASEEEEEE… “he pleaded with Vikram till he agreed.
I could hear one rule after the other as Vihaan continued loudly with a pause in between.
RULE #1. TAKE A STEP BACK and look at your room.
WHOOSH… this room is really dirty” Vihaan declared.
“And who made it like this?”Vikram snapped back.
It’s YOU..YOU…YOU..they were yelling at each other.
“OK..ok..come now and help. I need to go”, shouted Vikram.
RULE # 2 CLEAR THE BED AND MAKE IT. Before that, THROW EVERYTHING OFF THE BED TO THE FLOOR.
I could see things flying away from the bed in all directions.
RULE # 3 PUT ALL CLOTHES ON THE BED.
“Oh, then why did we clear the bed first,” Vihaan asked innocently.
“Because that’s how we do it”, replied Vikram disinterestedly.
RULE #4 GET ITEMS THAT BELONG IN THE ROOM.PICK UP, INSPECT THEM. — ITEMS THAT STAY AND ITEMS THAT DO NOT STAY IN THE ROOM.
RULE #5 PLACE THE REST OF THE ITEMS IN A BASKET AND KEEP IT OUTSIDE THE ROOM.
“Why Anna????”
“Because it can wait and we can focus on them later.” I called out.
RULE # 6 HANG YOUR TOWELS.
RULE # 7 PUT AWAY TOYS, BOOKS, HOMEWORK, PAPER AND ART SUPPLIES.
He got distracted with his toys but quickly read out another rule — Do not allow yourself to do anything else until everything is completed”.
“Woah.. so now my every toy has its own home too”, Vihaan beamed.
“And look at those books. How much we are reading!!”
Rule #8 COLLECT ALL RUBBISH AND THROW IT AWAY.
Rule #9 TIDY THE DRESSING, WRITING AND BEDSIDE TABLES.
Rule #10 FINALLY THE CLOTHES — PUT YOUR DIRTY CLOTHES IN THE LAUNDRY BASKET AND PUT AWAY YOUR CLEAN CLOTHES IN THE CUPBOARD.
YOU ARE DONE. STAND BACK AND ENJOY THE VIEW.
“I am going to have “clean my room day” everyday. Hurray, how neat and responsible we are”, Vihaan cried out.
“And organized too”, I added.
“Now you will now know where to look and find your things when you need them again”.
Originally published at http://charukriti.org.
