To have taken away all the toys and gadgets and be upset with my children?

[DinosaursOnASpaceship]

They think I have thrown them all away but they are hidden in the wardrobe until I feel like giving them back. Including the power cords for their tv, ds and laptop.

They are 10 and 8 and I have been asking them for literally weeks to tidy the pit that is their bedroom. It was discusting. Wrappers and empty mugs everywhere, clothes thrown all over the place, discarded magazines and bits of playmobil and Lego everywhere. They couldn't play with anything as the parts were all over the place. Expensive toy sets that were getting trodden on and lost because they are too lazy to put them away.

Everytime I sent them to tidy up they would argue, fight, come downstairs telling tales and crying. Nothing has gotten done in the weeks that I've been telling them to get it sorted.

I've got an inspection from my landlady at some point so it needed doing. And today I lost my temper after an hour of them coming up and down crying and whining and doing nothing.

So I went up with black bags and sorted 5 bags of rubbish, a mountain of washing and hid all the toys. I left them downstairs with no tv on as I didn't see why I should be doing the hard work whilst they relaxed in front of cbbc.

And I've told them that they should be ashamed of themselves for letting their heavily pregnant mum, with broken fingers, crawl around on their floor because they didn't care enough about it to do it themselves

But it's how I feel. I'm a single parent to them, a toddler, nearly 7 months pregnant, I've broken three fingers on one hand and am saving everything I can to give them a decent Christmas on my own. I do all the cooking, the cleaning, the washing, I make sure I drag myself to the supermarket every week so they can eat, I wash up, I iron their school clothes and I do nice things like movie and pizza nights, Halloween parties and take them to play pool.

They have laptops, virgin media in their bedroom, games consoles, toys everywhere, and I am sick of being the mug that is exhausted by 7pm everyday.

I am irrationally angry - angrier than I should be over a bedroom. I have just had enough.

(I have left books and colouring stuff in their room)

Thanks everyone, and thank you for the tips and advice (I am definately getting different coloured plates and cups!)

I've finally got ds3 to sleep and had a chance to think too and thinking about some of the threads and comments I've made recently I seem to have been doing a lot of moaning about the boys and ds1 in particular. And I've come to the conclusion that I think I am the main problem rather than them I seem to have a very low tolerance for bickering and noise at the moment, mainly due to lack of sleep and having been ill on and off for the last few weeks (kidney infections, ds2 has had whooping cough, stomach bugs etc) and I haven't been as patient or given them as much attention as usual, preferring to curl up on the sofa. The weather has been crap so we haven't been out as much, and they haven't been playing out to run off some energy. It's no wonder they are climbing the walls.

They are bored and restless and it's affecting their behaviour which in turn is making me snappier, which is making them grumpy too - its a vicious circle. The little things like them not rinsing their mugs and having to wash a pile of them are making me irrationally angry and I need to get a grip and pick my battles. I'm actually very lucky - they are definately lazy and messy, but they are children and instead of shouting I should be doing more constructive things to make us rub along better.

So less self indulgent ranting from me and more time and attention and effort to be made with them I think

Although, it doesn't change the fact that their room was a tip and they will have to earn the toys back. I probably should delt with it better though instead of having a teenage hissy fit. Seems I forgot who the adult in the house is.

Ah well, I can't be perfect all the time

You sound a lovely mum Dino

You've got such a lot going on, which would floor most of us, but you're trying to see it from their point of view.

They'll be fine, and you will be too.

Hope your fingers mend quickly and you get a lions share of kip soon

Ah bless you dinosaur, you're a bloody human same as everyone else and you can see where you think you've stumbled. Don't worry, they will get over it, and once you've had a decent rest and they're back to school things will seem better. Routine works well for my 2, and being at home seems to turn them into loons.
You seem to make lots of effort for them, don't forget it's okay to say no to things from time to time.
Hope you are okay Have some for good measure

If you're normally calm it's even more obvious when you 'loose it' to the DCs and IMO they NEED to see that you're human . I remember my DD1 saying to me why don't you SHOUT at me once in a while? .

Thank you for the kind words.

I think my little melt down has had some effect as they swept and cleared the toys away in the living room before they went to bed last night (left their dirty clothes on the sofa and dirty cups in the sink but I'm not expecting miracles) it won't last but I think they will get the message slowly if I am consistent with it.

I seem to have some sort of angry pmt going on at the moment. I came downstairs this morning and tripped over the dustpan, spilling it on the floor and thought "for fucks sake is it do hard to empty it rahh rahh rahh (in my head - I wouldn't swear or speak to them like that) and had to catch myself and think "why am I so determined to see the negative, they have cleaned up and made an effort and instead of appreciating it, I'm focusing on what they haven't done when I should be seeing what they have done" so went and said thank you to them for tidying up. It was nice to come downstairs last night to do it and find it all ready done.

Im not going to blame pregnancy hormones because they are not an excuse for being shitty with people, but I am going to think before I speak and react to things, I think my sense of proportion is off at the moment and I'm not going to take it out on them. It's almost like I am expecting them to take on some of exps role - and that's wrong. Im the adult, they're the children and of course they don't think like an adult would, they only think about where the next packet of sweets is coming from.