There is nothing I like better than an organized house. I am a firm believer in having a place for everything and everything having its place. I go nuts in The Container Store and my label maker has labeled everything from sippy cups to see-through shoe boxes. Having children, however, has put a small damper on the efficiency of my organization.
I wish I could be the type of mother that could simply take a large
broom and sweep all the toys into the closet, but the anal organizer in
me just will not allow it. All of my children’s Lego’s, Hot Wheels, and
Lincoln Logs have their own clearly labeled bins that sit nicely on top
of one another in perfect efficiency. I hate to admit that I get a
little high after cleaning up their toys and organizing a closet that is
so organized that it is worthy of a layout in Real Simple.
I am an organizational junky, which is not a compatible personality
trait with motherhood. Like most mothers, I spend hours each day picking
up and putting away, and I cannot hide my frustration when my children
continuously make messes. This explains why I completely blew my cool
the other day.
My mother always says to be leery of a quiet child, so I guess you
should have been down right afraid of two noiseless ones. Even though I
was enjoying the peace and quiet, I knew it was in my best interest to
tip toe up the stairs to see what my children were up to. To my horror,
my children had managed to dump each and every toy bin into a large pile
in the center of their room. My children happily sat in the middle of a
mess of toys peacefully playing. They were playing so well together that
for a brief moment I was tempted to return silently downstairs to
actually finish my magazine. The structured, neat freak part of my
personality was not going to have it.
Instead of seeing the fun my children were having, all I could see was
the mess that they had made. Instead of encouraging and thanking them
for playing so nicely together, all I say was, “What are you all doing?”
Their smiles faded once they looked up and saw the steam coming out of
my ears and the hair that I was pulling out of my head.
“Boys? What happened to playing with one toy at a time?”
My sweet children just starred at me, mouths open and eyes wide. They
obviously did not understand my frustration. I bent down and quickly
started to separate the plastic farm animals from the green army men.
“How about we choose one toy to play with and put the rest away?”
It took their silence and the disappointment on their faces for me to
understand that maybe their fun was more important than my need for
organization. Sure, Legos are fun to build with and Hot Wheels are fun
to race, but it is a lot more fun to race your Hot Wheels through a city
that you built with your Legos. My oldest summed up their feelings into
one, simple sentence.
“But, Mom, we’re having fun.”
That was all it took. In that moment I realized that my children’s
happiness was more important than my need for organization. I stopped my
urge, my need, to clean up the mess and instead took a big step in the
direction of breaking my own messy addiction.
“Okay, well, once you’re done playing just put the toys back into their
bins.”
My children returned to their pile of toys and I returned downstairs.
For now, I would have to settle with bins mixed with Little People, Nerf
balls, and Happy Meal prizes. At least all the toys would be picked up.
I did, however, go upstairs a little while later and help them clean up.
Baby steps, organizational baby steps.
Previous Posts:
Summer Freedoms
Excitement About
the Small Things
The Lies We
Parents Tell
Birthdays to
Remember
Can You Hang
Tinsel On A Recycling Bin?
Time Out For
Dummies
I'm A June Clever
Wannabe
To read more from Stephenie, visit her site!
Mama Wants More
A column for today's mother who has it all and still wants more
because you're a mother, a wife, a citizen, a consumer. You're
unappreciated, underpaid, and over qualified for wiping bottoms &
cleaning toilets. But this was your dream. This is what you always
wanted. you love your life, but you still want more . Me too.
