There is a conflict of interest in the Hancock house this morning. I woke up to the back porch looking like a war zone. In the shed we keep a large box full of  smaller flattened cardboard boxes, which of course they took and interest in this morning. It all got dumped out on the back porch so they could play with the big box. Now that box is smashed and no one wants to clean up the mess.

I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. So far most of the ideas I've had have not been good or effective, or too much work on my behalf: Lock the kids in the shed... No. Burn the pile of cardboard where it is... No. Clean it up myself... Definitely not.

The best idea I've had so far is to dress them, send them back out, tell them to pick up the cardboard, then lock the door and not them in until the mess is clean. It would be a great idea if they were teenagers, capable of getting bored with packaging and able to put things back as they found them. However, this is a five year old boy and a three year old girl I'm talking about. I'm not prone to delusions about little children being responsible or very well able to clean up the mess they've made.

Most likely they will get creative and play until they get hungry, then maybe they will at least round up the cardboard and put it back in the shed. I know I'm probably going to have to reorganize it in the end. Oh well.

image lifted from: Ernest Packaging