Do you ever wonder why you bother?


I do. Yesterday was an extra-heavy laundry day. With the kids back in school and the way the twins go through clothes, plus sheets and blankets, it was a bear. Lillian folded two baskets as part of her chores yesterday, and I folded the rest. All those pants, shirts, pajamas, and even underwear were neatly placed in huge baskets. The older three put their own clothes away, but for the twins (age 4), I put them carefully away in their drawers. Two hours later, I go in their room to find that they have pulled all the pajamas out of their drawer and strewn them over the floor. Not that I'm surprised. Almost every day, as I teach them to clean their room, we're sorting out what's clean and what's dirty on their floors, as they insist on pulling out all the clothes in their search for the perfect clothes to wear (Allison's favorite right now? Loud, Hawaiin fushia flowered pants paired with dainty pink flowered T-shirt. Because flowers always go with other flowers, right? But that's a whole 'nother post). By the time we shove the clothes back in the correct drawer and the dirty ones in the basket, they hardly look like the neat little piles I once made of them.

The boys are a whole different story. While they don't pull the clothes out of their drawers, they do put their own clothes away. Somehow, by the time the clothes make it into their drawers, they look like they've been tossed up to the ceiling, hitched a ride on a tornado and been crumpled into a pulp by a passing motorcycle gang. At least they are still clean!

So I wonder -- why do I bother to fold all those clothes in the first place? Wouldn't it be easier to just skip that step altogether?

Comments

alligood said…
I can relate to the way little boys put away their clothes! I even make it easy - in my pregnancy induced closet organizing frenzy, I labeled EXACTLY where the clothes should go. Baskets in the closet clearly state, "Matt long sleeve, Will pajamas, etc......" apparently this is still too complicated for them! It is always a jumble unless I am the one putting away! At least they don't change their clothes constantly. In fact, I am always prodding them to make sure they have changed into clean clothes and sometimes I am still suprised when I fold someone's laundry and, suspiciously, there are only 2 or 3 pairs of underwear in there!!!