Phase II

I haven't written about Andrew and his room much of late. Partly because I haven't been here a lot to check and to know and partly because he seems to have finally understood that decaying organic matter isn't a good thing to share ones room with.

Of course there are other considerations; decaying organic matter is one thing, sharing the cutlery and crockery is another. If he really does want the smell of sour milk to pervade his room who am I to object (so long as it only affects his nostrils). But I really do think that shared resources such as glasses and plates ought to be returned to the family pool. This lesson he seems to have finally learned.

So now we have phase II. I don't have the 'family' excuse this time. Indeed I have no excuse at all save the one of 'doing things the right way'.

Phase II is of course keeping the room in a neat state. Used underwear, to my way of thinking, belongs in one of two places. The laundry basket or the washing machine. The floor is neither of those places. He's tried the bad excuse of 'I don't have the time'. A bad excuse because he has, apparently, the time to watch The Cartoon Channel. But perhaps I'm projecting my values too much onto the kid? So I bided my time. He's a week away from the start of summer vacation which means he's a week away from almost 3 months of no homework and no school. The perfect time for him to learn to keep his room tidy. After all, not even Andrew has the stamina to watch TV for 18 hours a day!

So, over dinner tonight, I proposed a plan. He'd tidy his room before dinner tomorrow night. He would then keep it tidy. I'll check it at random times. No incentive other than he gets my good opinion.

Let's see how it goes.