Thought Grenade

I have a new thought for the day! It is random and un-artful but most definitely a thought. I love cleaning my room. You`ll have to admit most people love having their room clean, but it`s not too often that you will hear that someone loves to clean their room.

It started a long time ago way back when I slept with rocks in my bed and lived in an ocean of toys, books, and hats. I loved clean but hated cleaning. My poor mother tried a lot of things. I remember our “parties” where we would put everything in a pile and have me “dive” for things. I actually have very precious memories of pretending to be a sea diver; my mom would shout out,” Get all the hats!” and I would push and paw for all the hats and then fling them to their rightful spot. After awhile the game got old or my mother was too busy, the idea dropped and my dread for room cleaning renewed to a powerful strength.

I remember the regular old day when I cleaned my room and headed off somewhere. When I came back I discovered some pretty Indian paper dolls primly displayed on my bed. My mom had found the idea online to have a house fairy. This mysterious lady stepped in once in awhile after room cleanings to reward the cleaner. Now I was in a way bribed to clean my room, and you can probably guess how this went. My mom slowly tried to take away the surprises at the end and was met with a sudden rage of hatred for cleaning rooms. (I remember when I found a pencil on my bed…..what an upsetting day. ;)) It was not working; I had begun to expect it like she was doing it because I deserved it instead of a sort of motivator.

Here I remember the long drought of days forcing myself to clean.( Or rather my mother forcing…) Then came the blessed day where a light-bulb dinged. My mother has a glorious habit of coming up with genius ideas, I give all the credit to her. (Thanks mother!)  We did a pretend move. It was not an easy thing but has paid a thousand times over in the long run. We brought all our boxes up and acted as if I was moving out, everything went into boxes, everything. We even moved the furniture out. My room echoed with emptiness.  Then we unpacked it all, sorted, and put things into logical places.  If it didn’t have a place, we got rid of it. Back then I never would have guessed that I would now sort my drawers for fun. It`s extremely relaxing.

I`m  writing this to parents with children who hate cleaning their rooms. I remember all the sadness and chaos that happened when my mom announced it was room-cleaning day. Try some things, experiment. Different things work better for some people than others. I would enjoy hearing about your ideas for room cleaning below! Also, patience saves the world.

My room is like my fortress, my place to cry, my place to read, my place to be alone. It always keeps me wondering what I could switch up and have fun with next and gives me a certain connection to our home that I wouldn`t have otherwise. Just thinking what my room would be like without the move puts a crumple in my brow. It makes me want to go clean now, maybe I will…

Home, sweet home.  Picture credit: Bing Search