‘On the couch’ with Jasminda

DEAR Jasminda,

HOW do I get my kids to pick up after themselves?

It seems so simple, and yet we follow a continual pattern of them being told to pick up, falling back into bad habits, me getting annoyed and doing it for them, and returning to the beginning again.

It’s driving me crazy.

Gabrielle W.

Dear Gabrielle,

It appears that you are doing the Tidy Up Barn Dance with your kids, but they don’t know the moves and have instead created a sub-par alternative, a bit like when Raygun took on the hip-hop scene and thought some kangaroo hops and something called ‘The Sprinkler’ would cut it.

Perhaps, much like a barndance, you need to show your kids how to be respectful and responsible through smaller steps instead of just yelling, ‘Clean up your pigsty’.

You could even turn it into a song: Get up early, make your bed / Clothes away or you won’t be fed / Have a shower, eat some toast / unpack dishes from last night’s roast / hang your towel out in the sun / you’ll miss the bus if you don’t run / wait a minute, lower that brow / do-si-do your partner now.

And so on.

This will either motivate your kids or drive them stark raving mad.

Either way it’s a win-win for you.

They will do their chores happily, or they’ll do them just to prevent you from singing cheesy songs complete with dips ‘n dives and petronella performances up and down the hallway and around the (now spotless) living room floor.

Give it a go, Gabrielle.

I’m keen to hear how you get on.

Carpe diem,
Jasminda.