Some Days Are Just Like That.

Some days I can go around the house and see a trail of exactly where my little boy has been.

I will admit, I am no minimalist, but my goals of getting rid of things that clutter up our time and our life are pretty darn well directed that way. Directed in the way of simplifying. I want our home to feel loved and cozy and show the artistic flair of the life we lead. Yet sometimes, no matter how much I feel I clean up, pick up stuff and put more items in a box for donations, there is still something else that has seemed to grow legs and find its way at my feet or by my side. Why is that? Well, I will have to say, if you have young children, it doesn’t matter how much you try to make your home look like an image out of a magazine or even make it just put ‘well enough together’ to your liking, there are some days those little hands are faster than you are. (ok most days are like that. Ha Ha.)

So what can you do? I’ve learned I do my end of it. Pick up my end of what is really important and leave the rest for a while. If you have work you want to get done or things you want to create then go do your thing. The stuff grew legs to get there but it doesn’t use those legs to go back. So it will still be there when you’re ready for it. There has to come a point in your day when you realize the difference of being busy and being productive. Being busy will ALWAYS be there. ALWAYS. But being productive is a choice.

And children at the age of 2 1/2 or 3 are not too young to learn to clean up their mess. Not that they will always do it, but they understand. If I have to repeat myself too much about Dylan cleaning something of his up, I won’t let him do what he wants until the mess is cleaned up. There are times I will even threaten to put his things in a box for donation. It sounds mean, but he has to learn that mommy isn’t going to always be there to pick up after him. The funny thing is, if it’s something he really cares about he will pick it up in a heartbeat. If not and he doesn’t really seem to care what happens to it, then I realize maybe it’s something we really don’t even need in the first place.

Either way, some days are just like that. You try and try to clean up yet as fast as you try, so do the little ones try to explore. But when you’re at your wits end remember this, everything a child touches and handles is magical to them. To us, it might be another mess to clean up but to a child it might be a magical world of imagination waiting for them in that box you wish they just didn’t take out, spilling a million pieces all over the floor. So take a deep breath, all moms and dads have been there. Let your child explore his world, and focus on what you need to explore to find your magical world as well.