This isn't really an awful before picture.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I post a picture and just a few words.
Would you believe that Joshua used to be one of my most mess-prone kids? And now his room usually looks like this.
This is a before picture (his walls are gray now, he has a new bed that we painted, and things are all rearranged) and his room redo is ALMOST done. I'm just waiting for one more chair to arrive and then we can take some after pictures of his new space.
So, are you going to tell us the secret of how a mess-prone kid now sports a cleaner bedroom than mine (and most other organized people I know)? 🙂
Yes please share! Please!
Well, I'm not too sure, and neither is he! I don't know if maybe all the organizing I helped him do over the years finally sunk in, or if becoming organized is something he'd just have done on his own.
This gives me hope for Sonia and Zoe, who are still in a very messy stage of life. 😉
A musician, a photographer, AND organized? Kristen, you're going to have the young ladies beating down your door in a few years!
Haha! I think he'll be a good catch. But then again, I'm his mom, so... 😉
I am going to need to know what triggered him to keep it so clean. With two girls sharing a room I never see the floor in my kids bedroom. Shoot I'm not even sure if there is a floor anymore...it may be hard packed dirt by now. 🙂
We decided, after too many battles, that we weren't going to fight with the kids over their messy rooms any more, but instead require them to keep a clear path between bed & door for safety, and then just keep their doors shut.
What we've found as the kids have gotten older (ages 22, 19, 14, and 13), is that eventually they decide on their own to keep their rooms clean and organized. Maybe not as nicely as Joshua's here, but nice enough. It's happened at different ages for the different kids...the older two were in high school, the 3rd cleaned up his act in 7th grade, and we're still waiting for the youngest to discover the benefits of tidiness. 🙂
But it's been worth it to not fight over messy rooms all these years!
My two girls share a room, and they're completely opposite in personality. The older one is a ferret, the younger likes things clean and orfanized. It's SO difficult to let them work out a compromise on their own. At this point the only rule they have on it is that I have to be able to walk into the room.
Of course we're now down to one day before our move, so thr rule is suspended. Anything they don't pack goes out on the final trash run.
Anyone have ideas to get them cooperating? They're 12 and 14.
I am looking forward to the pictures of the room re-do. Thanks for all you share with us.
I wish I could be more like your son. My room is a big mess!
Kristen, I LOVE this picture. I am a pediatrician and I tell patients that good habits in children take years to build. Look at what faithful instruction over the years has done for your teen! Gives me hope for my messy ones.