Laundry issues

   I was determined the next post I did about Tator ( my little RADling) would be a positive one, but we've had a laundry issue going on for a while now that I just have to write about. It's the only way I can think about getting over my frustration.

  A few weeks ago I started to ask Tator to bring her dirty laundry down out of her room and put it in the laundry room like the other kids do. She would happen to forget or be busy, etc. So I finally quit asking and her pile just kept getting bigger. She'd always manage to have some clean clothes because if she took a shower she'd take her dirty clothes from the bathroom and put them in the laundry room. For some reason she didn't have a problem with that.

 So every couple days when I reminded everyone to bring down their laundry (in front of her) she'd conveniently be doing something else. In the mornings when I was in her room if I would ask her why she didn't bring her clothes down or why she didn't want them clean she'd say "she didn't feel like it" or "she'd do it tomorrow."

  By now I'm really starting to get irritated. Of course, never letting her know, but it was so obvious this was a control issue. After awhile I started to wonder what I was going to do. Every once in awhile she'd run out of clothes and we'd just pull something out of the dirty pile and she'd be fine to put it on. It never bothered her one bit. I thought for sure by the time she had to start to wear dirty clothes she'd gladly bring them to the laundry room. Who was I kidding?

   Now I'm sure some of you are thinking why wouldn't you just take them to the laundry room yourself? She is only seven. Believe me I thought about it. I even had the thought to wash them all while she was at school then throw them back in a pile in her room so she'd never know I had washed them. At least then they'd be clean. But stubborn me, I was determined she was going to do it herself. There was no reason why she couldn't get them to the laundry room like the rest of the kids.

   This morning I went in to get her up and we got out her last pair of clean jeans and her only shirt left (which was a hand me down that had her sisters name on it.) As she was dressing she said "Today I'm going to bring down some of my clothes so you can wash them then I'll have some more clean clothes in my dresser."

   I took a very deep breath and said " No today your going to bring down all your clothes if it takes five trips. Then your going to put them ALL in the washer and I will turn it on. Then when you get home from school your going to take them ALL out of the washer and put them in the dryer. Then I will turn it on. Then when your done with your homework YOU will take them ALL out of the dryer and fold them and put them away in your dresser the right way."

   And she did. She didn't argue. She didn't protest. She didn't complain. She just did it. Between homework, dinner, and laundry it took her all evening, but she did it.

 Well I guess this post was more positive then I thought it was going to be. She did it and didn't give me any trouble. She didn't throw clothes at her siblings or the laundry basket at me while she was doing it. She just quietly sat down and did it.