Learning curve...

I often find myself asking "why don't they LEARN?" when my boys do something repeatedly that they get in trouble for each time. Take the following for example:

My brother, Marc and his wife, Leilani and their kids, Charly and Kavika were in town visiting a couple weeks ago. They came over one morning for breakfast. (Marc makes the BEST crepes! EVER!) After playing downstairs for a while, the kids came up and informed me that they made a MESS. This was the scene that greeted me in the family room and down the hallway:




I have a big, giant stuffed Mickey Mouse. They decided it would be fun to unstuff one of Mickey's legs and play with the stuffing... AFTER dumping out every toy in their playroom. (We had even cleaned right before Marc and family arrived, so every toy was in it's place.) So, the little styrofoam balls were E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E!!! And if you know anything about little styrofoam balls, they're very static-y (?) and stick to everything.

M.E.S.S!!!!! GIANT MESS!!!

SOOOO much fun to clean up, let me tell you. :) I was not a super happy mom, I'm not going to lie. I got everything cleaned up, and made it VERY clear that this was not an activity they were to engage in again. Apparently they didn't learn because the very next day, I went into the playroom and found that they had gotten into the beads (that I had "strategically placed" behind Mickey Mouse) AGAIN. They weren't ALL out, but still, another mess. This time I put the beads in the spare bedroom, which is off-limits AND grounded them from playing in their playroom for a week as punishment! Take THAT! They'll learn from that, right?!

Fast forward to today. I had a presidency meeting this morning at my house. While our Presidency was upstairs meeting, the children played downstairs. In the playroom. The logical place for children to play. After everyone left I went downstairs to get the boys and SURPRISE!, I was greeted by millions of tiny little styrofoam beads. Again. Everywhere. Hmmmmm...

Who isn't learning here? Could it be the 3 and 4 yr olds who find playing with beads SOOOOOO much fun (really, who can blame them?!), or perhaps the MOM who keeps cleaning them up and storing them (to restuff Mickey at some point) in reach of the 3 and 4 yr olds?

I'm happy to say that I've finally learned my lesson. Three cleanups later, I put the bag of beads up. They're hidden away. I'm not even going to tell you, the reader of this blog, where they are. They're safe from all 3 and 4 yr olds. I'm feeling smarter already!