The House Fairy As young parents, my husband and I felt that at age 6 and 8, our children were old enough to be cleaning their rooms and making their beds. But they thought 36 . My complaints, repeating myself, even self-justified shouting were landing on 37 ears. I felt frustrated (沮丧的) , and very often a whole afternoon’s scolding would end with their 38 into tears, I realized I needed to 39 my methods of “mothering”. One day while they were at school, I had great fun 40 their rooms. On their desks, in plain 41 , I left the cards: “Dear Bill (the other card was 42 to Sarah), your room was messy this morning and I’m sure you like it clean. Love, the House Fairy. ” 43 arriving back, the children were 44 excited to receive the little note from the House Fairy. The next day, their rooms were fairly tidy. Sure enough, there was another note from the House Fairy 45 for them, thanking them for their nice “gift” of a clean room and 46 asking them to play a certain violin 47 . Each day, thank--you notes would be worded differently to keep the ideas |