My husband and I insisted that our child...

My husband and I insisted that our children were old enough to clean their rooms and make their beds. But they thought   1 . My complaints, even self-justified（自有道理）  2 , were always landing on   3  ears. Very often a whole hour’s scolding would end with their   4  into tears. I felt very frustrated. I realized I needed to   5  my method of “mothering”.

One day when they were at school, I spent some time tidying their rooms. On their desks, in plain   6 , I left the cards: “Dear Bill(the other card was   7  to Sarah), your room was messy this morning and I’m sure you like it clean. Love, the Room Fairy.”   8  arriving back, the children were   9  excited to receive the little note from the Room Fairy. The next day, their rooms were fairly tidy. Sure enough, there was another note from the Room Fairy   10  for them, thanking them for their nice “gift” of a clean room and   11  asking them to play a certain violin   12 . Each day, thank-you notes would be written differently to keep the ideas   13 ．

Sometimes the Room Fairy would propose a little   14 : “If you can finish your homework and go over your lessons before dinner, I’d like to watch a particular television program with you tonight.” Sometimes some colored markers or other little items would be left in   15  of well-done jobs the day  16 .

 17  I can’t remember how long “the Room Fairy” continued leaving her love notes. When they were age appropriate, we used various versions of Post-Its （贴条）. The bathroom mirror became the  18  centre of our home. Appointments, notices about visiting relatives, lesson schedules, and changes in plans could be  19 .

We all benefited from and   20  the idea of sharing reminders and daily details of life through notes. I believe the true advantage of the Room Fairy notes survives in our frequent and enjoyable communication．