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Oh Husband, Why Won’t You Put Your Things Away?
Oh Husband, Why Won’t Your Put Your Things Away?
I was talking to a friend recently when she mentioned her partner seems to have trouble putting his things away.
She then proceeded to ask if I could perhaps write a post on “How to Teach Your Son in His Early Years to not Make Piles of Crap” (her words, not mine).
I had a little chuckle to myself, and went on to explain to her that I hadn’t cracked the formula yet for husbands, boyfriends or significant others (you may remember a while back I wrote a post comparing how I do things around the house to how my husband does them, so I clearly don’t know what to do about it) but if I ever worked out the secret, I would be sure to let her know (plus, as a side note, picking up my husband’s stuff doesn’t really bother me… most of the time, just don’t tell him that shhhhhh!)
Then I got to thinking about a post I read a while back by Ashley from Under the Sycamore called “A Simple Question for a Tidier Home”.
Ashley has 5 kids and says that she manages to keep her house tidy using 1 simple question:
"Who are you leaving that for?"
The first time I heard this, I thought it was brilliant!
All you need to do, every time you see one of your kids put something down, is ask them “Who are you leaving that for?” and hopefully it will spark a moment of reflection for them, and kick off the habit of putting their things away.
But will this work for husbands, boyfriends or significant others?
I can’t say I know the answer to that. I suspect it would, but I haven’t tried it myself, so I’ll be interested to hear if it does work.
At the very least, it couldn’t hurt to give it a try, right!?
Have you tried this little trick before? Did it work for you? Do you have another simple strategy to get your kids (or partner) to put their things away?
Look forward to hearing your thoughts!
P.S. If you haven’t had the chance yet make sure you grab one of our memberships for exclusive access to our child behaviour strategies while they’re still free 😉
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9 Replies to “Oh Husband, Why Won’t You Put Your Things Away?”
Haha this is so great!! Although in our case here it would be him asking me that question just as often as I ask him, ha!
To be honest it would probably be the same scenario at our house Tawni ?
I’m definitely the messier one in the relationship! I feel awful for my husband because I lay things around the house and it doesn’t really seem to be in my way, but I know he’d prefer if I put things back where they belong! I need to be more conscious of this.
Haha, I love this! Great idea to ask who they are leaving it there for. My husband constantly leaves his things everywhere and of course my daughter picked up on that and does it, too! They drive me insane and I don’t know hoiw to change them! I will try asking them the next time they leave something somewhere.
Oh man, the stories my mom could tell about this topic!!!
LOL this is so great! My husband is pretty good but has his lazy times too
Oh, goodness… I have a LOT of thoughts on this particular topic; I love my bf but the paper piles and messes around the apartment are a source of constant contention. I’ll have to try this the next time 🙂
Let me know if it works for you Chrissy and Charlotte! 😉
Yes. Unopened mail is the worst.