If it's not in the laundry room it doesn't get washed!

When our boys were little I got into the bad habit of going to their rooms before doing the laundry to make sure all of their dirty clothes were in the laundry room. They got more and more dependent on me picking up their dirty clothes instead of taking care of it themselves.

Deciding I wasn't teaching them anything by doing it for them I had to take action. So one Saturday I warned them that from that day on anything not in the laundry when I was ready to wash wasn't going to get washed.

Monday morning rolled around and things went fine but Tuesday the sky fell in. Neither son had clean jeans. I simply told them "gosh the wash was all done Saturday so you should have enough for the week."

"But Mom, I can't  wear dirty jeans" came from both of them as I just shrugged my shoulders and said "and I can't wash them if they aren't in the laundry.

I never had to pick up their dirty clothes again. By the way they didn't get their jeans that dirty in one day so they were okay to wear them another day in spite of what they thought.

I can't take credit for this way of handling the situation, I had just that week heard it on the radio. Another suggestion the doctor told was when your child wants to run away tell them that is ok but they must leave the same way they came into your world, naked. More times than not it will make the child laugh if you deliver the sentence right. It worked for me with our oldest son.

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