Invisible Fairies

Annabelle is a piece of work. After lunch I said, “Annabelle, come help clean the kitchen.” She just stared at me like she was seriously thinking. “Annabelle,” I said again, “Come help.” She shook her head and started slowly walking backwards. “I can’t,” she said in her little pixie voice. “The fairies are pulling me out of the room.” I looked behind her. “They’re invisible,” she said, always a step ahead of me. “They’re pulling me.” She took two tiny fingers and pulled on her Hello Kitty underwear as if fairies were really pulling her. I couldn’t help laughing at her walking backwards out of the kitchen with invisible fairies pulling at her.
A few minutes later, I walked into her nursery to put her shoes away and decided to try again. She was putting on one of her princess dresses.”Annabelle,” I said, “I need your help cleaning up.”
“I can’t right now,” she answered, smoothing her dress. “I have to go to a party. They need me.” And she whisked out of the room.
I have found the best way to get the kids to help clean up, without getting frustrated, is music. Either singing a song, or playing a song–something fun that is just for cleanup. Then it’s fun. Well, fun might be stretching it. Even I hate cleaning up. But it’s a necessary evil, so we must do what we can to make it bearable. Also, I make it as easy as possible for them–baskets for the toys and not too many toys out at once so it’s not overwhelming and everything has a place. 
The other stipulation is not getting frustrated when they attempt to help by doing the dishes and flooding the kitchen. I try to cheer on every effort, add in some music, and voila–soon we are all dancing and cleaning up is a distant memory!