Something's Gotta Give

I have had it, and so has Markus. That's when you know it's bad. We have tried and tried to keep the playroom from becoming "The Pit of Despair", but so far it's Kids: 1 googleplex, Parents: 0 . I have seen with my own eyes, children standing by the bookshelf, looking at a book and then letting the book drop from their hand and land with a plop on top of the pile of previously dropped and plopped books. They have taken clear containers of toys, opened them up just to "see" what's inside, and then dump them out of the floor moving on to the next container. The end result is that it looks like Toys R Us barfed on the playroom floor. Wait a moment, I lie. There are toys in Toys R Us that will never ever make their way into my house. Toys, such like Bratz dolls, anything Hannah Montana, WWF figures or any toy pet or doll that require me to take care of their poopies, will have be banned from the premises.

So the plan is to teach the children to pick up their toys and put them away after use by turning the guest/storage/exercise/ironing room into the toy keeper room. (Though I am sure the children will refer to it as The Toy Jail.) This room will be locked, and we will have the only key. They can get one thing out at a time to play with and then they have to put it up before they can get another toy. Eventually, so the theory goes, they will be in the habit of putting their toys away so we will no longer have to lock the door unless they relapse into their evil ways.

Markus is the one that came up with this plan, though I have seen other households that have implemented similar ideas. I am on board with this plan, but I do have a few misgivings that I shall spell out below.

1.) Since I am the parent at home all day, this means I am going to have to get my tookus up and down the stairs every time someone wants a toy. Maybe this plan is also a sneaky way Markus came up with to get me to exercise. Have to keep an eye on that one.

2.) I am envisioning fussing children draped over my person or banging on the bathroom door begging for me to open The Sacred Portal to Toy Joy. I might have to get them timers to wear to put some time limits on things like whining and toy exchanging or how long they have left until mommy loses it.

So there you have it. Our mission is clear. We just need a name for this mission. How about Operation Mommy Sanity Saver. That has a nice ring to it.