Smallish victories. Does this qualify as one of those? Maybe, in the scope of a lifetime, but this week, this was a major victory. We were able to get Mazie's room cleaned. I really wish I had taken a before picture of her room because it was worthy of an episode of the A&E series, Hoarders.
The large black bag is representative of one of my worst parenting moves today. Mazie spent nearly 4 hours cleaning her room today. I made her a list, told her what to pick up next, tried to encourage her to accomplish it herself. She didn't throw tantrums or balk at doing the work like she usually does. I figured the promise of a trip to Target to blow her Christmas gift cards was what was driving her to getting it cleaned. She was very compliant and would occasionally bring a small stack of trash (papers) out to me and say things like, "Better get back in there mom!". I was totally impressed, but didn't make periodic checks because I thought she was being responsible and doing the work.
At 5pm (I gave her a deadline), I went in to check out her work. I was anticipating greatness. Instead, her room looked like the equivalent of a plate full of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas. At first arranged artfully on a plate, but then rearranged to appear that it had been eaten with the occasional pea thrown to the dog. This is what transpired over the 4 hours she spent in her room. She just moved a couple of things around. And the trash (mostly Kleenex and what I call 'crazy papers'), dirty clothes and stuffed animals I directed her to pick up repeatedly were still in the same spot. When asked earlier if she had picked-up the trash and had all the dirty clothes back by the washing machine, she said "Yes..." in the nicest way. What the fuck was she doing for 4 hours??
That's when the rage set in. This is not something I've been after her to do for a few days, couple of weeks or even a month, this is a project I have been asking her to take on for nearly 6 months now. I realize she's only 7, but she's smart and is able to do the work - she just chooses not to. Anyway, back to the rage... I went and got that huge black trash bag and began stuffing anything in sight into the bag. As you can see, it's packed to the brim. And that wasn't even the bulk of what was laying on her floor. After I settled myself down a bit, I made Jason come in and help us while Mazie and I finished picking everything up.
As for the things in the black bag - well, that's going to be Mazie's project this week. I'm crossing my fingers.
