Be specific when you need kids to do things

I guess I need to be more specific when I ask Isabel to do something....

Isabel left her toys on the floor after she was done playing with them. So I asked her to put away the toys and not leave them in the middle of the room.




I went in to check 10 minutes later and saw that the floor was cleared. "Good girl," I told her. She kept quiet and pretended she didn't hear me. Oh well, as long as the job was done, I thought.


When I went into the room later to get something, I saw that the toys were actually all underneath her bed!

"Isabel, why are all your toys under the bed? I told you to put them away!" I said.

Isabel cheekily smiled and replied, "I did put them away. It's not in the middle of the room anymore. It's under the bed."

Sigh, I guess it was my fault for not being specific enough and for not telling her to put the toys back where they belong? Why are kids such smarty-pants, anyway?




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