The Way Kids Clean

Even the simplist of things in life, can be complicated if we let them.

Cleaning the house with kids can be an eye opener. Sometimes it seems as if a child is willing to go through more effort to stuff an item in a corner or under a bed, than to put it away properly. This I don't understand, for in our household, if something is stuffed away - not put away - it get's pulled back out to be put away again.

This morning we started off the day with an art project in which we used paints, markers, crayons and stickers to decorate the kids' new study space dividers. Afterwards as I made lunch, I asked the kids to clean up the art supplies and place them in the art supply bucket.

Now being that we have a nice, neat, lidded, bucket, in which all the smaller items - sorted into bins with lids - are placed, this should have been an easy task for a 5, 6, 8, and 9 year old. Oh but how I was wrong.

After giving my instructions, we proceeded on with the day.

Everyday, I make sure my house gets a clean sweep. Literally. I take a broom into all the rooms on our main level, which consist of wood and tile flooring. I sweep from the edges to the center, and anything in my way gets swept into "piles". Then each child is assigned a room, and gets to clean up their pile.

It's amazing the items, and in what amounts, I find things during this process - just 24 hours after the previous sweep.

Today I found wedged under my bed - a box of foam stickers and 4 watercolour paint sets. Evidently after our art project, it seemed like a better idea to carry these items to the other end of the house and shove them under my bed. Wouldn't it have been so much simpler just to set them neatly in their right place?  If I could only convince the child, who stuffed them under my bed of this.

Yes every day I marvel at the mind of a child, some days I'm in awe of their innocence and livelihood, others, their thought process.

Life is All Surreal. Amazement can be so versatile.

MJB

Tell me, what's amazing in your life lately?