I’ve talked about “the mess” in our home before. 

We aren’t particularly messy people, but with all those kids, there’s gonna be some mess. I’ve tried to let it go and sometimes I can and other times it drives me crazy.

I was listening to a podcast a couple of weeks  ago (I’m addicted to podcasts now) and the guest was talking about how fed up she was of having her kids’ toys in her living room. She was complaining that she didn’t have a basement to have a playroom in. 

The host, very wisely pointed out, while having the toys in her living room may be a pain now, it allows her to be around her kids more. Now when you have toddlers and young kids, I’m not sure that that is such an appealing idea. Maybe you sort of want a break from your kids! Haha. 

However, my challenge is that my kids study in the dining room. And as they are getting older, I find they are more and more leaving all their books all around the dining room. So it gets messy! I was constantly on them to put their stuff away, and not let our dining room look like it’s a high school locker! I told them to keep their books in their rooms after they are done.

In our house, our bedrooms are not really used except for sleeping. They aren’t allowed electronics in their rooms, so everyone tends to hang out in the living room or the family room (in our basement). No one really has a desk in their room either. So the dining room it is. However, the idea of lugging their books up to their rooms was not appealing, so it was a fight to get them to do it. 

 This podcast got me thinking; instead of resisting the mess, I should embrace it and be grateful that they are all very present in our house – even when studying! Soon enough those books will be all gone. Just like I no longer have toys in my living room; eventually they grow up and the mess disappears.

I decided to embrace the study mess, like I had the toy mess (I always kept baskets of toys in the living room – I didn’t have a family room). I went out and bought a big basket (I think I actually need two now!) that can be used to store all the binders and books (we already have a few drawers of supplies in built in shelving in our dining room). 

Every time I see them study, or see the mess, I remind myself that one day there will be no mess and I’ll look back on these days so fondly. Right now, I need to appreciate that they are around when studying and that they are actually studying(!!)