Good-Bye TOYS!

I did this over a week ago, however, I waited to post this to see how it turned out.  Well, my son 'T' did not want to pick his toys up 'AT ALL'.  And, I had had enough of picking up his toys.  It was really getting to me, because I felt like I was not following through on my 'threats'.  So, I followed through on my threat that I would throw his toys away.  I need to add that both of my kids were present during our garage sale and said good-bye to a lot of toys and old things they did not use anymore.  However, 'T' might have said good-bye to the toys but it was not without a cry and break-down.  Honestly, I thought we were going to put him in therapy after the garage-sale, but he was fine.


Now, back to what happened...  I was tired of picking up the toys so I said, "Pick up your toys, or they are going in the garbage!"  Unfortunately, I did say it quite a few times and then I packed up 'T's toys and put them in the garage.  Now, to a 2-year-old the garage is the garbage, or at least to my 2-year-old it is.  So, there sat the toys in the garage and 'T's room was just about empty.  I did make sure that I put important things in there like his pillow and his blanket that he has to sleep with every night.  He did not pick it up, so out it went!  While, I was cleaning out his room, my daughter 'E' was telling 'T', "Go tell mommy you will pick up your toys."  Now, I know what she was thinking and it was, "If she is going to get rid of 'T's toys for not listening, she will get rid of my toys!"  So, to make sure that is what she was thinking I let her know that if she did not listen she would lose her toys too!

I was a little upset at how little this really affected him.  He was upset for all of ten minutes, until I reminded him how he needed to keep his room clean.  OK, so I do need to add that I added a stipulation on the toys.  I said by Friday if he could listen he could get his toys back. 

This happened on Monday night.  Well, the week passed.  And, to my amazement, 'T' listened so well that week that on Friday he earned his toys back.  Throughout the week when things were starting to get a little rough I would remind 'T', what happens when you do not listen to mommy?"  And, things would change in a heart beat!  So, to say the least if you want your kids to listen to you, you definitely need to follow through!