The Delusion of Child Messes

When you become a parent, somehow you think that you are going to find better ways to do everything. You will do a better job of introducing your kids to healthy foods. You will get them to voluntarily pick up their rooms. You will avoid the annoying toys and the extremely messy/dirty activities, or manage to contain them. You are sure you can do all of this and remain sane.

Play Doh will be kept in separate colors so it won't turn into the perennial gray green that every tub of playdoh at daycare or church becomes two seconds after it is opened. YOUR children will only play with it on a designated table only, and you will not let it get tracked or moved all over the house. You say to yourself, "Well, if I buy this cute little sandpit with a cover, the kids won't get sand everywhere and it will stay dry." You even splurge for the extra high walls to prevent sand creeping onto your lawn. What you don't think about is the fact that instead of worrying about sand escaping at will as your children play, you should be worrying about how much will make its way into your house in the form of sandy hands, bodies, and clothing.

Well, I'm here to vouch for the fact that it's just not possible to avoid or even contain messes. Even if you try to avoid messy toys or games, your kids will find them by themselves. And even when you think you have a toy that is contained to a certain season, think again! I thought with our sand table being put away for the winter, our children would be forced to amuse themselves with the plethora of fall leaves and sticks on the lawn, and all the cool creatures crawling around in the leaf litter. Well, I was partly right. They did entertain themselves with that for about half an hour, then they went back to their (wet) Jeep and other stuff by the house. Fine. I was occupied raking leaves from our 100 ft plus big leaf maple, so as long as they weren't killing each other, I was happy. Then I heard the scream and crying, and saw from my decent distance away that my son had a dirty face. I thought it was dirt. Yeah. No, it was play sand...wet play sand at that. DD had shoved/thrown it in his face. When I asked her why she did that, she said, "I wanted a sand fight." *ahem*

One time-out for DD, shower for DS (remember that bit about clothing with sand? Well, add in a cloth DIAPER full of sand), clean clothes, and chill-out nursing session later, and everyone is happy again. Except that I had to sweep up tons of sand from my bedroom and bathroom floor, and I haven't finished rinsing the sand down the sink drain or shower drain yet. I had to change my clothes after wrestling DS out of his, so yet another laundry load is in the wash.

And that Play Doh? Well, after holding out for nearly four years and insisting that DD only play with one color at a time, I finally threw caution to the wind while DH was gone last week and let the kids play with five colors at once. And you know what, it was okay. They don't mind the gray green, and they had a blast with their rainbow Play Doh while it lasted. And really it didn't matter what color it was, I still had about a bazillion dried out pieces to vacuum and sweep up after they were done. I guess I've just realized that childhood is supposed to be messy...I can try to keep it contained most of the time, but I wouldn't want to have a spotless house if it meant my kids didn't enjoy their toys and their messes. Have dustpan, will parent!