Helpful little girls

yesterday I tried something a little different to get the girls to clean up their toys. they wanted to watch a movie in the afternoon and i was amenable to the idea; however, their toys had not been picked up from the previous and current day's play. i calmly explained that when the toys were picked up, they would be free to choose and watch a movie of their choice. they spent about 20 minutes arguing with me and justifying why they shouldn't have to. i ignored their comments and busied myself with sewing...reminding them from time to time that once they cleaned up THEIR toys, they could watch what THEY wanted.
finally, they decided to clean up and it took them 6 minutes. they called for me to come check on their work. i shocked them by replying that i trusted them to have done the job correctly and they were free to choose and watch their movie. e paused and repeated her request. i encouraged her to look around and let me know if there was anything left to do...then they spent another 2 minutes finishing up and then confidently announced they were NOW finished.
it was such a good feeling to see the job they did and to see them understand that just doing the job is less work than arguing for an alternative.
this may never happen again, so i'll just relish in the moment and remind them about it at a later date...

impromptu clarinet serenade during a previous clean-up session