Isabella’s friend Allison came over after school the other day. At one point I caught the two girls playing in my room. I told them that my room was off limits. I said, with a smile, “If you’re going to make a mess, you’ll have to do so in YOUR room, not mine.”

I should have known better. I should have recognized that, after I made the above statement, the glint I saw in Isabella’s eyes was a mischievous one. I should have known what was going on when she and Allison raced out of my room and into her own. And shut the door.

But, no. Instead, I naively returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner. I regret that now.

Because when I entered Isabella’s room, not five minutes later, I entered a disaster zone.

Not a single inch of carpet remained to be seen. The floor was covered with toys, papers, books, crayons, you name it. I looked at Isabella’s toy drawers and realized what had happened… she and Allison had removed each drawer, dumped its contents on the floor and then spread the contents all over the place. The two girls were dancing atop the mess, singing and giggling in complete, utter delight.

I broke up that party real quick. “What did you DO?!?” I asked, fuming.

Isabella stopped dancing and looked up at me. “You said we could make a mess in my room.”

Dangit, I had said that. I mean, that wasn’t what I meant but technically, that’s what I’d said.

My anger instantly faded and I laughed a little before telling the girls to clean up the mess. Thankfully, they got right to work, and the room was spotless within a half hour.

What struck me about this incident is the absolute glee the girls felt—evidenced by the light in their eyes and the joy in their step—at being able to make a mess. A real, hard-core, messy mess. And a mess that they were permitted to make! (Or so they thought.)

Why do kids like making messes, and adults hate it? When does that switch take place? Why do we grown-ups labor so intently to keep our homes neat and tidy, our lives without conflict, our appearance trim and put-together?

Of course, it’s not good to live in chaos. We do need to keep our lives and our homes in order. But seeing the jubilation in my daughter’s eyes at just having gone all-out to make a mess (which, in the grand scheme of things was not that big of a deal) made me jealous for those spontaneous, carefree moments in life when you don’t have to worry about playing by the rules.

I don’t remember the last time I had a moment like that. Now that I’m aware, though, I’ll definitely be on the lookout…

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm and is filed under parent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.