Chaos and Organisation

By far it is India's ability to make mess that frustrates Dave and I most as parents. As children Dave and I were both clean and organised, I remember mum telling me stories of how, as a little girl, I would clean up the play room after my sisters; so I find it really difficult to understand how India manages to make so much mess.

We feel that at six years old and being very independent (she's been making her own breakfast since she was three years old) she needs to start taking responsibility for the care of her things and her space. This has been much easier said than done, she clearly struggles with organisation and packing up when she's finished something, and often has many different creative and imaginative projects on the go. While trying not to stifle her creativity we've come up with a few ways to help keep some kind of order in her bedroom and the rest of the house but keeping things clean is still a struggle. We've tried having less things in her room and having shelves for her instruments and art supplies outside her room as well as providing an art space in the lounge room and access to her sewing kit in my room.

Despite the mess and chaos that seems to be a fairly constant element in our house these days she does often surprise me with her ability to organise and decorate her space even if it doesn't stay that way for long.

Yesterday she lined up all her shells in the hallway when she was cleaning her room. When I came upstairs I couldn't help but smile at the care and effort she put into organising them and it reminded me that under all that mess and chaos that drives us crazy is an amazingly creative little girl.