Make it fun

Sometimes it's a challenge to get your kiddos to do what you want/need done.  Sometimes all you need is a little creativity.  Sometimes - I don't have it!!

When Miriam didn't want me to wash her hair I had to come up with a game to dump the cup over her head.  We'd sing a little song and dump water on her toes, then knees, then tummy, then shoulders and then head to get her all wet.  Then we'd lather down and do it over again - as many times as it took to get rinsed.  Still works pretty well most of the time.

Today - all I wanted was to fold laundry.  We're going through a phase where she just wants ME to play ALL THE TIME.  Not that she is adverse to helping, but she can also be very focused, so she didn't want to help fold-sort the laundry she wanted to play with Garfield and Odie.  So I had to stop and think.  "What does she want?"  She wanted to play with her dog (I'm always Garfield).  "How can we both get what we want?"  So I tried this: "Hey dog!  Can you help me find Miriam's clothes?"  It was almost like a little light bulb went on.  Hey - I can be dog and help mom.  And it was a great game.  I had to keep the commentary going to help it along. "Does Miriam have any more clothes?... What about a pink shirt?...Can you find another white sock?"  By the end she was throwing clothes at me saying "Dog is a good digger."   And we got most of the clothes folded and put away.

I'll admit, initially, I did NOT want to "make it fun."  I wanted to scream and say "play by yourself for 10 minutes!!!"  But I also felt like this was a household chore she could help with and I have to take advantage of those, so that she learns about work.  It was worth it.  Also, I felt much better about the outcome of the situation and better about myself as a parent - something I really needed lately.

So, make it fun.  How do you do it?