I had 2 brothers (ages 5 & 7) that would just keep playing instead of picking up toys after I told them it's time to pick up. I told them over and over. Finally one day, I quietly walked up to the gate to the playroom, saw them playing instead of cleaning, and stood there, waiting. When they saw me, I simply said, "boys, come here." When they got to the gate, I opened it, pulled out 2 chairs on opposite ends of the room and turned them to face the wall, then I simply told A to sit in this chair and B to sit in that chair. I set the timer for 3 minutes. If they smiled or turned their heads or started playing with their hands or feet, I told them "both feet on the floor, hands on your knees". I made it incredibly boring for them. But I did not say much. When the timer buzzed, I simply said in a very cheerful voice, "ok, boys let's try this again. Go clean the playroom." They started picking up toys, but were going slow, so I set the timer for 10 minutes. When I buzzed, they went back in time-out for another 4 minutes. Then they had 10 minutes to clean. If they were not done in that time, they got time out with 1 additional minute added on. This only took 1-2 days to reduce their clean-up time from 1.5 hours to under 20 minutes. The second day, I told them they had 30 minutes (initially) to clean, then the time-outs start. But the next week, they were picking up in under 15 minutes. It worked like a charm. I also saved craft time and the last snack until they were done. One day it only took 10 minutes! Oh, and I always had to inspect to ensure they weren't just throwing everything into the toy box. Everything had it's place and had to be in the correct place (within reason).

Another thing I tried that worked for a while was taking index cards and putting 1 job on each card (like Mega blocks, wood blocks, books), then they got to draw a card (face down) and do that job. When they finished their job, they would draw another card and keep going. When they were all done, the one with the most completed jobs got a special prize or treat.

It's all about incentives. Is it bribery? You bet. But that's how the world works. Adults go to their jobs because they are getting PAID MONEY to work. If it wasn't for the paycheck, most of us would love to just relax on a beach, play with our own kids, or enjoy or own hobbies more. It just teaches them about how the world really works.

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