Meet the Toy Fairy.

 

I mentioned the Toy Fairy in my last post, but I didn't explain her very well.  The Toy Fairy is a pretty nice fairy, but she takes toys.  No, no. She doesn't steal or anything like that.  I don't want you to get the wrong idea about her.  After all, look at how pretty she is! So let me clarify.  The Toy Fairy comes when children don't clean up their toys when they are asked.  It is supposed to work something like this:

Mommy: "Ok Lilly.  Time to clean up these toys." (Keep in mind, I have giant bins that the toys can just be thrown into.)

Lilly: "I really like messes. I don't like cleaning up."

Mommy: (thinks to herself, "oh brother.") "Lilly, if you don't clean your toys up, the Toy Fairy will come and take them."

Lilly: "oh!  Ok, I'll clean them up."


That's the fairy tale version of the story.  Here's how it really works.

Same conversation as above until I tell her the Toy Fairy is coming... then...

Lilly: "mom, I want her to have my toys.  I like to share with her."  Or there's always the distracting technique: "What does she look like?  Is she nice? Can I draw a picture of her?"

Great. Now when she goes to sleep, I have to stash all of her toys in a hiding place and tell her the Toy Fairy took them and is keeping them. I know she won't care because she has a billion other toys to play with.   Clean up FAIL.

ahhh, I love these little moments of parenthood.

:)

Tell me your tricks for getting kids to clean up!

xo,

Kristen