Mess Happens

When one has a toddler who is a creative-type, one must be willing to allow messy-ness to happen.

I must admit that when my sister Gretchen gave Luca a paint-set for Christmas, my heart did lurch for a moment as my mind rapidly constructed images of fingerpainting all over the walls, floors, doors and on our creamcoloured bedspread (WHY did I get a cream-coloured bedspread in the first place?? The first day out it got christened with a lip balm that Luca found beside the bed...).

And then I thought - well when Luca wants to paint, it can be when Aunty Gretchy is around and SHE can deal with the mess while I can pretend to be busy doing....other things....I'm sure I'll find something!...

I then realised to my absolute horror that I really was starting to become more like Monica off Friends whom I find incredibly annoying with her anal-retentiveness. Close friends have often commented "Doesn't Brigitte remind you of Monica from Friends?" of which I would always point out their bad error of judgement, and yet here I was worrying about 'Oh no MESS!' before it had even happened - it was even the potential for mess that was starting to give me the cold-sweats...

And so it comes down to this - Mess happens. Get over it.

I never thought I was a 'super-tidy' as a child, but I now remember a time when my older sister Tyra and I shared a bedroom.  Tyra was obviously not a 'super-tidy' like me and there came a point when I drew an invisible line along the floor and informed Tyra that this was my side of the room and that was her side and therefore all her things were to stay on her side!

Of course she never listened because she is the older one afterall and therefore she makes the rules...

But being his mother's son, Luca seems to have picked up the tidyness and orderly loving gene from me.  He spends most of his days meticulously lining up all his cars, trucks, trains and aeroplanes, then moving them one by one to a new spot in the house.  And he likes to help wiping things down, putting away his shoes and clothes, so I can't complain really!

So when Austin was at home to help on Saturday we cracked open the new paint set and I took a backseat and allowed my son to create with the paint to his heart's content (within the boundaries of the paper...!)

He painted pictures of Finding Nemo, Bruce the Shark and a Dinosaur.

The last thing I want to do is stifle my children's creativity and take away simple pleasures and opportunities for discovery and development just because things might get out of order! That's actually a really scary thought and that's not the kind of mamma I want to be.  Being a Stay At Home Mamma goes hand-in-hand with providing opportunities for my children to be creative and to express themselves through all different kinds of media which is all part of a healthy development. Now that I'm learning to understand the importance of this I'm hoping I'll start to get more and more ideas for different ways that Luca and Beni can express themselves freely and creatively in our home and in the outdoors.

Afterall, I want my children to be the best they can be, to enjoy life and to milk it for all it's worth! So Mamma, mess happens, and it's okay!