My kids hate cleaning up their toys.

Even if they are motivated with an exciting trip or a yummy treat, or Mom just saying “clean up!”, they hate cleaning up.

Often Lizzie has to help motivate the other siblings. She knows the toys in the living room need to be picked up, but she doesn’t want to do it herself. I have seen her use many tactics to get her siblings to clean up.

Lizzie will first come tell me “Evelyn isn’t helping.” She will repeat this until Evelyn is annoyed enough to help. She will then coax Casey and Will, “clean up and we can watch V. This one is amusing because I may not have promised them TV and when I try these tactics, they never work.

One day Lizzie got creative. She tried the color clean-up game. She sat on the couch and gave instructions, “everyone pick up something yellow”. A few moments later, “pick up toys that have blue in them” and proceeded to go through all the colors of the rainbow and then some.

This worked for a few days but everyone lost interest and Lizzie got tired of naming colors.

One Saturday morning, Lizzie came up with a brilliant idea-the Human Clean-up Machine.

We have a tent that the kids play with inside. And this particular day, the tent was part of the mess. Lizzie figured out that if they turned the tent upright and all squished inside, they could shuffle around the room picking up toys.

It was pretty cool, all of them were moving according to Lizzie’s directions picking up toys in the cleaning machine and shuffling back to the toy shelf to put them away.

Sadly, the cleaning machine only worked this one time and Lizzie soon grew resentful for being the only one cleaning, especially when she did not make the mess. We moved the toys out of the living room, into a bedroom and gave all the kids more specific cleaning responsibilities.  For the most part, everyone has to clean the mess they made. So if Lizzie doesn’t play with the toys, she doesn’t have to clean. This means the boys have to clean up with no more fun clean up games for Lizzie.

Although when mom needs a hand, I might see what else she comes up with to help pick these toys up off the floor.

The Clean-up Machine

​One morning, Will wanted toast for breakfast. So we made toast.

Two pieces of bread were put in the toaster oven. After the timer ‘dinged’ we spread the butter.

At grandma’s house, she cuts the crust off each piece before the kids eat it. This is done in love because Mom doesn’t do this. When Will asked Mom to do this, the answer was “Only Grandma does that.”

Will’s next request was a little different, and it took us a minute to figure out exactly what he wanted.

Will asked if we could sprinkle some of the ‘white stuff with the picture of the bowl of seeds’ on his toast.
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Dad and I had no idea what he was wanted I asked him to describe it a couple more times and then we started looking around the kitchen. We found a bottle that fit this description 

It was garlic salt! Will wanted garlic toast for breakfast.

We tried teaching him the name but he knows it as the ‘bottle with the bowl of seeds on it.’
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The next time we were at Grandma’s he asked for it again. Unfortunately Grandma didn’t have any garlic salt, but she did cut the crust off.

Lizzie is mean to her sister. I know there is some degree of sibling rivalry and we try to keep in under control. But more often than not. I find myself saying “Lizzie, what did you do to make Evelyn cry?”
Occasionally, Lizzie will show a softer side. One where she does care about those around her and not for her own agenda. Unfortunately this discovering was when Evelyn was crying but still Lizzie was caring for others.

The Moving Wall, the traveling half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, came to Eustis, Florida. I took the kids. We can’t get to Washington, D.C. and I wanted my kids to see this. Their grandfather fought in Vietnam, their other grandfather served with many names on the wall, and Lizzie and Evelyn are old enough to understand that someone sacrificed for their freedom.

At the Wall is an exhibit of the “Empty Table”, a POW/MIA memorial. Lizzie asked me to explain it and I did. I had no idea how much it would upset Evelyn. After signing a Flag Wall that travels with the Moving Wall, we left. In the car Evelyn started crying. She was upset because all she could think about was “what if someone captured Daddy?” and began crying. I tried to calm her fears but could do little since I was driving. Then Lizzie spoke up, “How about I sing you the song that makes you happy when you think about the HM?”

First I asked what the ‘HM’ was. Lizzie explained that Evelyn will have bad dreams about the Haunted Mansion at Disney and that the only thing that calms her down is this song.

Then, I needed to know the song. Lizzie began with a visual, “Evelyn, imagine your unicorn. Do you see the candy on its back? Is it your favorite kind? Where is the unicorn, what is it doing?” And then breaks into song, “Pink fuzzy unicorn dancing on a rainbow.”

The song is simple, those words over and over, yet somehow it soothes Evelyn. She was no longer crying but sitting still. The boys have picked up on it and now the entire car is singing four versions of “Pink Fuzzy Unicorn Dancing on a Rainbow.” And I am driving with a smile on my face.
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I was worried about Lizzie, but now I know deep down that she really loves her sister. 

The traveling Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall