I call my motivational techniques "creative".

Sam came downstairs, a little exasperated. Seems Ethan was the only one that had made significant progress on the cleaning of his room.

"Call him down," I said. "Tell him he gets candy because he's doing so much better on his room than his siblings. And he can take it upstairs with him. He'll be sure to rub it in their faces."

Sam called him downstairs, I told Ethan. He chose a full pez dispenser.

Fifteen minutes later, back down the stairs he came. "All done!"

"With your room, or your candy?" I figured I knew the answer.

"Both!"

I congratulated him on it. Problem was, neither of the other two kids had come downstairs to kvetch about not having received candy. "And did you mention to the other kids that you got candy?"

I got an eyebrow raise. "No."

"And don't you think you should?" He happily ran off. The two remaining kids' bedrooms were done within a half hour.