Is your bedroom “an archaeological site of dirty socks, sports-drink bottles, ripped papers and empty boxes of Cheez-Its” like that of one of the teenagers described in this article? If so, does it make your parents crazy? How often do you clean it up? Does the mess bother you?
In “Should I Make My Daughter Clean Her Room?” Judy Batalion discusses her own ambivalence as a parent about whether it’s worth the daily struggle to get her daughter to keep her room neat:
I recently received an email from my daughter Zelda’s preschool director titled “The Importance of Messy Play.” Children learn through process, she wrote. The act of creating is more important than the result. She pleaded with parents to allow our kids space for disarray.
On one hand, this note was refreshing. In our tidying-obsessed culture where decluttering is considered an act of moral courage, I appreciated the director’s encouragement to “embrace the chaos.” On the other hand, she didn’t have to confront 15 more years of the macaroni-and-Lego-based Jackson Pollock-inspired crash scene that was Zelda’s room.
Many parents accept that, in order to maintain their sanity, they must be selective about the battles they choose to wage with their children. But the mantra to “clean your room” seems nonnegotiable, a foundation of good parenting, rooted in common sense. Learning to keep your surroundings in order and take responsibility for your messes are important to becoming a competent, socially mature adult.
For many, however, cleaning is more complicated.
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …
— Should parents make their children clean their room? Why?
— Does having a clean room make you a better or happier person? Does cleaning your room teach you important life skills?
— What’s the state of your bedroom? How clean or messy is it? Do you like it that way?
— How often do you clean your room? Do you clean it only because your parents make you?
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