What would you have done

You walk into the playroom and see pompoms and toys strewn all over the floor. ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ Your first reaction? ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ 😡🤯😱 ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ “Clean up the room NOWWWWWW!!!!” ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ Do you think your child will obediently clean up the pompoms right away? ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ Sorry babe, unlikely. ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ Instead, you’ll have to deal with the power struggle that comes almost immediately 🌪 ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ 💡 But what if you speak to their emotional brain instead: ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ “WOW I see a lot of pompoms on the floor. You guys are having fun!” ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ Your child then feels connected and there’s a higher probability that they will cooperate and clean up! ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ 〰️ ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ This was our first playroom and I remembered vividly how the kids were playing hockey with a long wooden spoon and the pompoms, making “rain” by scooping pom poms into cups and pouring them out 🌧 ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ They had a whale of a time, imagining, playing, laughing as they turned the room into a pom pom sensory bin 😭 ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ I know that some of us have very low tolerance for mess, but we have kids, don’t we? How can it fun if there’s no mess! 😆 ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ Of course, I am not saying that its ok for the kids to create a mess and leave. More importantly, we want to inculcate a sense of responsibility in the kids. After the “rain”, I cleaned up the room together with the kids. No tears, no power struggles 💪🏻 ⁣⁣ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⁣ In situations like that, I ask myself what is more important: a messy room or the relationship with my child? I choose the latter ♥️ #olpn_parenting I’m curious, what would you say when you walk into the room filled with pompoms (or even LEGO) on the floor??! 😱

Courtesy of https://bit.ly/2E46SKH