to confiscate everything off 7yo dd?

[MrDobalina]

Ive just spent an hour looking for her school shoes...they were in her book bag. Her books and homework which are supposed to be in book bag are not...spent another 40 minutes looking for them; i cant find them

i tidied her room on Friday; its a bomb site-clothes everywhere-lots of 'stuff' put into bags (seems to be a favourite game!) it drives me bat-shit

Im a SP, I work, I have dd1 and dd2. I really feel like I cant spend so much time running round, tidying and getting things orderly....

shes had her new glasses 2 weeks, shes lost them already. I hand her her school bag and coat maybe 10 times before she goes out of the door in the morning and she still leaves them behind

shes so chaotic! is it normal for a 7 year old?
It doesnt seem so, 2 yo dd2 is much better at tidying up after herself already. And remembering stuff...

most messy people were just told as kids 'Go and tidy your room!' and then they stood there completely overwhelmed not knowing how to break it down or even start

Yes, definately agree with this. I'm the same to be honest, give me a messy room, I won't know where to start so will wander off and start something else. I have to break it down in to tasks DD2 is exactly the same.

We bought some cheap plastic drawers from B&Q and labelled them - all the colouring stuff in one drawer, all the plastic tat/moshi monsters crap in another, board games have their own drawer, bracelet making/bead stuff in another

We've labelled the clothes drawers so she puts pants, vests, socks and tights in the top drawer, jumpers in the 2nd, t-shirts in the 3rd and so on. She knows her dresses get hung up, jeans go in a certain drawer.

The drawers aren't particularly tidy, but at least we have a vague idea where to find something

Some good ideas on here.

DD this morning, at 8:50am, handed me a letter from school asking for the £10 in school lunch money that she had not handed in.

They have a basket in school into which they should put their lunch money (£2 in one of those little plastic bank bags, with her name and class on it). In the afternoon they get the bag back.

So FIVE times in the past 2 weeks, she has forgotten to put her money in the basket. When I asked what happened to the money she said that she realised that she had forgotten to put it in, so handed it in to the office.

Some of the times she has forgotten, I have received a text, saying 'your child did not pay today' and have given her extra the next day, or instigated a search to find the money.

I have no idea where it is going. She isn't keeping it, she is not like that. But somewhere between her bag and the office it is not being counted as her contribution.

We have agreed that she must give me the bag every evening to fill and put it in the same pocket of her school bag. And I have asked the school/teacher to keep an eye on her for the first few weeks until she gets into the habit of putting the money in.

MmeLindor it sounds like someone else is either pocketing or misplacing the money, tbh.
Could it be another child has been taking the money from her? Maybe even telling her they will take it to the office for her?
Or does your DD forget to tell the people in the office what the money is for? Eg, does she just leave the money on the table in the office and not say to anyone as they are busy, etc?

This thread reminds me of my DH, tbh. He does not have the excuse of being seven years old, but the rest is awfully familiar...(glares at the to do pile). Will he grow out of it or is it too late by now (late thirties)?

Ullena
I think that it is more likely that she is taking the money to the office and putting it down, rather than handing it to one of the staff.

She has paid every day this week, so my bollocking gentle reminders seem to be helping.

tbh, I have to write everything down as I am quite forgetful. It takes work and discipline to retrain myself. I'd rather start that now, to make it easier for her later.

BTW something I found really helpful - these drawer dividers from Ikea. They are a really good size and create a lot more space in drawers for different things. Could have one section for hair things, one for glasses, one for pants etc - probably worth getting a few packs for the different sizes.