In the beginning of motherhood I thought letting your kids get messy was a bad thing. I still sometimes over react about staying clean but I'm learning to let it go and use the experience to "Take Ten" and teach something from it. What can a mess teach kids? Let's take a look.
Making a mess is a part of growing up and learning...
This is Melanie, she found the coffee while I was doing dishes one evening. We laughed about it, let her play, took pictures, and then showed her how to sweep!
Look she's even getting a foot in it...nice!
Here she is again eating spaghetti without help. This was a hard one for me. Before this day I don't think I let her eat anything messy without my help. But they need to learn someday and they can always take a bath!
She had fun and as you can see, cleaning supplies were readily on hand in the background! By the way, my kids hate sticky fingers. They've been taught to clean themselves after a messy meal. They run for the wipes when they're done. Making a mess while eating helps little ones learn to clean up afterward.
Sometimes I get in these moods where I tell my kids they can only play with one thing at a time to help cut down on the mess. I started asking myself, why? They can clean everything when they are done, and if they're having fun, why ruin it?
She's 3 now and she has had plenty of chances to learn to clean up toys. My kids know when things are messy and like to help clean up. They've been given lots of experiences of getting ALL their toys out and then cleaning up after themselves.
The funniest thing about keeping a clean house is that when it does get messy, my kids let me know it. The last couple of days when the house was cluttery Easton has looked at me and said "Our house is messy, mom." Kids notice everything. Take advantage and let them observe good habits!
Get messy, and then clean up!
Take Ten!
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