Works for me Wednesday: The Capture Monster

Are you tired of your kids leaving their stuff everywhere? Enter the Capture Monster!
I used to spend precious kids-are-in-bed time picking up toys, books, dress-up clothes, etc. that my children had strewn about the house during the day. I just couldn't relax or get anything else done with kid-stuff everywhere. I would pile it all on the stairs so it could go back up into the kid-world it had come from and thus I'd reclaim some order to the downstairs.

Then we got the idea for the “Capture Monster”. He is like the anti-Santa. He visits at night once the kids are in bed and takes away toys that have been left downstairs. The toys go in a bin in Mommy's closet. Unlike Christmas morning the kids don't wake up and come running to see what toys were brought, but they come running to find out what toys were captured!

To free treasures from Capture Monster Prison, the kids can pay $1 per item in bail or on a morning after the capture monster doesn't capture anything (all toys were put away), the kids get to choose one item to come out of prison.

Now that the Capture Monster visits us regularly, the kids are much better at cleaning up their things before bed. The great thing, too, is that I think they really know Mommy is the Capture Monster, but somehow they like the excitement of the monster and they don't get mad or whine to me about the toys that are captured. They even have fun talking about the Capture Monster during the day. “Is the Capture Monster coming tonight? Does the Capture Monster get coloring books? Does the Capture Monster get mad if he doesn't find anything?” and on the dialogue goes. Think of it as building your kids' imagination skills while getting them to clean up their stuff!

Find more Works For Me Wednesday Tips at Rocks in my Dryer.