The Cahoon Bears and the Messy Room

*Any resemblance to "The Berenstein Bears and the Messy Room" are completely on purpose.  I love that book and really felt the role of Mama bear here.*

From the outside, the Cahoon house looked fairly neat and well-kept.  

The inside was pretty clean too.  The piano was dusted, the dishes were done, beds were always made and the basement was pretty organized (which was quite a feat considering that it was only one small room with all the kids toys in it).

There was just ONE place that was an exception to the general rule of "neat and tidy"... the GIRLS ROOM.  It was a MESS!!

If you think this was because of neglect, you couldn't be more wrong.  The girls are not allowed to come down before breakfast until beds are made and everything is away.

In fact, even before going to bed, every article of clothing and every toy/book or the like has to be put away.

The fact that the girls room is EVER a mess overwhelms Mama Cahoon daily.  Hasn't she taught her daughters enough about putting things away as soon as they're done??  How do they claim that it IS clean when there is still stuff overflowing from underneath their beds and dressers?  Can they possibly think that things thrown into the closet won't be seen by Mama Cahoon's searching eye?

So Mama Cahoon would have them clean up their room yet again.  "Girls, come and clean up your room.  Please don't leave anything out this time.  Just put what is yours away and it will be okay." 

The problem wasn't so much that they weren't willing to clean up, it's just that when clean up time came around, no one had any belongings.  They were only their siblings belongings.  And if they were willing to put away anything at all, it would only be if they could see their sisters each moving with the same amount of enthusiasm.  In fact, they would spend so much time watching their sisters to make sure that THEY were cleaning, that sometimes, they would forget to clean themselves!

What usually happened was that while the girls argued about whose was what and who wasn't doing their fair share, Mama would start picking things up and putting them away.  She'd reorganize the whole closet, and drawers so that they had no excuse as to why they couldn't put things away. 

One day (that may have been today), Mama decided that she didn't want this anymore.  She looked back on her childhood and remembered a song from "Joy School" and decided to put it to work.  (The gunny sack is just a bag that comes and eats up the kids toys/clothes/books etc. that are left out in kids rooms.  Once they are "eaten",  it will keep all its stuff for a week or two. The kids can earn their stuff back by doing extra chores around the house or choose to give it away.)

Mama remembered the simple brilliance of this plan and she simply called from the top of the stairs "Girls, thank you for cleaning your room!  I'm just going to go and get the Gunny Sack and clean up the rest!"

Anyone watching would not believe that these were the same girls that would sit and fight about whose stuff was who's.  These couldn't possibly be the same girls who didn't want to work one second longer than any of their other sisters, could they?

Saryn jumped up and saved Kaia's blanket.  After all, what would Kaia use to sleep with?  Kienna dove in and saved all the American Girl dogs.  Kaia ran to save her camera and her bag (which has become an attachment of her arm).  The gunny sack was going just as strong.  It got all the garbage and the doll shoes and socks and books that were scattered.  It was a race between the Girls and the Gunny Sack... but oh, how clean the room looks!

Mama Cahoon just might have to remember her good friend "Gunny Sack" more often!  Either way, Mama Cahoon won the battle of the Messy Room today!