Day 3: Clean Sweep

Wish 3: Self-Cleaning Kids

I'm wishing this for all the parents out there who know what I'm talking about. I wish my kids would clean their rooms.

I really love my kids. They're just great at school, with friends, and with their cousins. They are talented, intelligent, considerate and courteous. We study, play and watch movies together. They just adore their mother's cooking. We couldn't ask for anything more.

Except that their rooms are messy.

Consider this. In the rooms of Child 1 and Child 2: clothes on the floor. Which clothes are clean? Books, notebooks, calculators, assignments and pens are also on the floor. Why? Because there are also clothes on their desks. Are there clothes in their closets? Barely. At least the hangers are also on the floor, just waiting for the nearby clothes to magically attach themselves.

In Child 3's room, there are clothes, electornic games, plush toys, hair clips and books. On her bed are seven pillows she turned into a fort.

What add to the look of clutter in the room are all those posters: bands I've never heard of, and brands of snowboards and skateboards. For the youngest, it's anime characters whose sparkling eyes are bigger than their fists.

It shouldn't affect us when the doors are closed. However, when the wireless phone rings, and they forget to bring it back to the cradle, I'm digging through six feet of apparel before I miss the call.

So I tried a crusade. How long would it take for me to clean up Child 1's room while he's away for a few days? The answer: 48 hours - a whole weekend. I brought out three bags of trash. I gathered enough good working ball pens to fill three mugs. The blood rushed to my head when I found a petrified French fry. Arrrgh!

It also took Child 1 about 48 hours to return the room to its original state.

I wonder why they're messy? I've got a relatively clean room. Except for the books stacked up on my night table. And some standing files on the floor. And, oh yeah, only one used pair of socks under the bed. I mean, really. Where do they learn untidiness?