For every 100 times that our children don’t do what we ask them to, there is that one priceless gesture that is so sweet and so very heartwarming…that we just have to blog about it.
This is one of those moments.
I know that this makes me the most unique of moms, but I am always on my children about taking care of their clean laundry. Dresser drawers, it seems, are not for folded clothes but wadded-up clumps. Closets? my children wonder. What is the purpose of this extra room? Ah yes! It’s a mini-playroom, stuffed with toys. Even better, it’s a jungle gym with empty rods for pull-ups!
Tell me your kids don’t do this.
Church clothes are the worst of all. My kids rush home from Mass and they peel off all the layers, which are then used as caulking for any empty spaces under their beds and behind their nightstands. (You think I’m joking, don’t you?)
It’s a never-ending battle, I know—my will against their ways.
That is why when I entered my sons’ closet the other night—bracing myself, as always, before doing so—and saw this:
My heart just about melted clean away.
Joe had hung up his flannel jammies.
He talked me into buying them last weekend and he’s quite fond of them. They’re new, they’re cozy, and evidently, worth taking care of.
Now about those new church pants I got him…
Ad Jesum per Mariam,
My kids do this and it drives me batty. Funny I should read this because I just spent an hour cleaning up such messes and making vows to not let them do this anymore! Along with thinking up what sort of punishments I can mete out. Good thing they’re all sleeping. 🙂
My consolation is knowing from experience that they grow out of it. They do I promise. The your issues become along the lines of asking them not to use quite so much cologne or to take such long showers —three times a day!
My son will change out of his church clothes and leave them as is: sitting on the floor where he had just peeled himself out of them. If he wanted to he could just step right in and pull them up like a fireman’s boots.
I can relate to every bit of this—except for the photo at the end. I have never seen a closet look like that.
What I really love is finding clean clothes that were folded in the hamper. And when I have to pack for a trip and all of the clothes in their dresser drawers are dirty. That I really love. I don’t know why I can’t just accept that hampers are meant to be drawers and drawers are meant to be hampers and then use them that way.
It’s one of the great curses of original sin, I think. None of this would be an issue if we were all naked.
Think about it…no laundry, no dry cleaning, no dreaded swapping of the clothes as the seasons change, no closets to excavate, no beds needing to be uncovered so we can go to sleep. Childbirth usually lasts no more than a day, but the pains of laundry never end.
Please give Joe a high five from Auntie Banana. Love you!
Oh, how I hate the clothing on the floor thing! And don’t get me started about the clean clothes that turn into dirty clothes because they got pulled from drawers or from hangers and then kicked under beds for “caulking” as you call it. 🙂
The pajamas image is perfect. The hope they inspire might just get me through the weekly chores that lie ahead …
The most embarrassing thing happened when we had invited our parish priest over for dinner, and he got to bouncing a super ball around with the boys (mom raises an eyebrow at this already) – but then it bounced behind the dresser in the walk-thru bedroom. Horror of horrors, he helped them move it away from the wall to get the ball! Talk about “caulking” and dust bunnies! The boys’ idea of cleaning off a dresser was to take and arm and shove everything behind. Hey- decluttering and dusting all in one easy move!
There are 20 empty coat hangers in the girl’s closet right now. Can you picture the floor? 🙂
Your post made me smile.