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Accommodating the mess

A mess is only a mess to the person who is bothered by it. If another person is not bothered by it, then it is very likely that to them it is not a mess. Therein lies the difference between mothers and daughters and their attitudes towards the daughters' bedrooms.

If you think this is a mess you are a mother. Or have mothering tendencies.




Heaps of books! Heaps!!!!!! Books are for stacking on shelves or reading




And as for older girls - what is it with them and bags? Bags that contain so little - an empty water bottle; the labels taken off new clothes; a crumpled magazine and only ever one sock.These bags are never binned. They're a scented reminder of the shopping experience, scattered in flocks across the bedroom floor.




I moved into Littlest's room with my own bags to gather rubbish and paper. And rubbish and paper. And rubbish and ... several hours later, had filled the boot of the car. Just in time for the recycling centre to close. Grrr!




Anyway ... not too much 'Grrr!' as tidying is pretty therapeutic. Especially the finding-of-forgotten-treasures-bit of tidying. Like the missing number block from the learning clock, the blackberry charger so nearly replaced, the hole-punch, many, many odd socks, and all the animals for the Noah's ark. And the dump will be open tomorrow.

Now, if you think this is an improvement, you are either of a mothering disposition




or a delighted Littlest!

Of course, it is also true that perhaps the biggest attraction of tidying a room, that has long been a mess, is that it is an activity so engrossing that there is no time left for anything else. All those more urgent jobs get bumped down the ladder. Tidying is, in fact, a form of procrastination. Maybe, if I didn't find the mess 'bothering' in the first place, I wouldn't procrastinate/tidy later.Which leads me to the unsettling theory that an untidy person may be far better at getting things done because they don't allow themselves to be distracted by the mess around them and therefore don't waste time tidying up.

Sigh. Is this a manifesto for messiness?

Do I tidy my other daughter's room tomorrow? Or do I respect her busy life and accommodate her mess?

Sigh again.

Think I am now procrastinating about procrastination.


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