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Messy Messy

Mark and Jennifer write:

"Our 11 year old son, Eric, keeps his room a mess.  He keeps books on his desk and occasionally his shoes are not in his closet.  What is even worse is that he leaves his dirty clothing on the floor after he gets undressed.  What can we do about this."

M/C responds

Mark and Jenny,

This is an easy one.  Every night, after your son is a sleep, go into his room, flip on his lights and then proceed to empty the contents of all of his drawers and closets on to the floor.  Then walk out without saying a word.  Your son will get the message and clean the mess up.

Do this a couple nights in a row, even if your son hasn't left any books on his desk.  However, if he has had the audacity to leave his shoes outside of his closet on another occasion, make sure when you "raid" his room, you empty the drawers of his night stand, as they probably contain personal and private items that he would rather you not see.  This will send your son a clear message of "who's the boss"!

You should see an improvement after a few of these sessions.  After that, stage a few raids randomly over the course of a month to keep the guy on his toes.

Thanks for writing,

M/C

March 15, 2006 |

Comments

Sara

Oh my God, you are a genius.
I'm childless myself, but I'll be sure to pass your advice on to everybody I meet. I'm TOTALLY not worthy.

Posted by: Sara | March 17, 2006 at 02:22 PM

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