Over the past few months, I have been focusing on helping Jack to clean up his messes.  There are things that started to bother me to pick up all day long; things like the kitchen chairs he dumps on the floor, sometimes to make a fort and sometimes because he is bored.  Also, his blankets and pillow are needlessly thrown to the floor all day long.  I don't like to correct him every second of the day about his messes.   So what I started doing before we leave to go anywhere, or go to another room to play, is I tell him he has to pick up the three most bothersome things he threw on the floor.   He complains and I tell him that I won't play with him until he picks it up.  With time he is getting quicker to pick up and slower to throw those things on the floor in the first place.

"Jack, you need to pick up the chair before I can play with you."

"Mom do it," he commands.  It was funny when he was two years old, not so much now.

Soon it became, "Mom, help me!"  he'd whine.  It worked the first few times.  He was not used to cleaning up after himself so I helped him.

Then I started to say that this time I wouldn't help because he is big enough and old enough now.  

Last week, he somehow he came up with an idea he learned on the show 'Wonderpets'.    

"Jack," I said, "your popcorn spilled all over the floor.  You need to pick it up before I can play with you now."

Very dryly and maturely he said, "TEAM-YOOK, Mom."    I couldn't shoot down that suggestion!  Now he has me!  I can't say teamwork is a bad thing!  Teamwork is a great thing!  So we sang, "What's going to work? Teamwork!"  and we picked up the popcorn together.