Keeping Children's Drawers Neat

My two daughters were outside playing on one sunny summer morning. This was not unusual as of itself. It was unusual as to the outcome.

I had warned both of my girls that they must respect my work. They had now reached an age that would enable them to maintain whatever cleaning I had done for them. This included keeping their drawers neat after I had put away their ironed clothes. Though much instruction had been given the girls, the follow through was missing. The night before this following episode, I has told the girls that the next morning was the day of reckoning. I had told them I was very upset with the condition of their drawers. I again explained the work involved in ironing their clothes and neatly placing them in their drawers. They seemed to be convicted and I put their lights out with faith that in the morning they would correct the messy drawers that they had created. Morning came. We lived on a cult-de-sac. The yards were all considerably close together. It was very feasible to call out the window to any of the children of the cult-de-sac. They were almost always together playing. They were not only within ear's length, but they were often visible. It was approaching noon. The agreement was to complete their task in the morning. I called them and they responded that they would be there in a minute. After an appropriate amount of time passed and still no daughters, I had had it. I took their drawers out one by one and marched them down to the yard where they were playing with their friends. I proceeded to dump each drawer on the ground. I also left the drawer once it was emptied. The girls sat there frozen in shock. They could never have guessed that was coming. I just did it impulsively.

This was the best thing I could ever have done. I never again had a problem with either daughter as far as keeping their drawers neat and respecting my work. They are both in the education field today, as they are adults now. They have used that story to make their point to their students. They have told this story to parents of students to direct these parents in a more radical fashion to gain the power back from their children.