What the HELL!?! At a parenting workshop once a mother asked me, “How Can You Get A Five Year Old To Make His Bed?” My response was, “Buy Him A Sleeping Bag”. Her statement to her five year old, when she went in the bedroom to see if he had made his bed, was, “You Call That Made?” when she looked down and found the sheets and blankets not in correct placement. With a sleeping bag all he has to do is lay it flat. Would you want to make a bed if someone came in each morning and said, “You call that made?” probably not. As parents it is easy for us to look at what we want rather than what is really important and sometimes capable for a child. Focusing on what a child cannot do rather than what a child can do frequently does not get improvement. Is making a bed really that important? Will the world end if it does not get made?
If the answer is yes, then here are a few tips that might help:
· Focus on each step individually as a success. “You got the pillow at the top of the bed”
· Make statements that encourage. “Sometimes it is difficult to do things. How can I help you”?
· Make positive statements. “I remember when you could not even reach this bed, look at you now.”
Sometimes I have to step back and take a look at what is really important in the world. Bed making might not be one of them.
