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  .
      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.