We have a goofy cloth mask that will come in handy for when we need to go the grocery store over the next couple of weeks. J had let the girls play with it, so naturally it had disappeared into the abyss of childhood absentmindedness. Low and behold, we found it today…in L’s closet, along with every article of laundry she owns, dirty dishes, MY clothes and shoes, and a whole array of random crap that she “cleaned” over the past month.

It took me locking her bedroom door, walking away and eating my lunch to avoid screaming and lecturing at my kid for the complete lack of care for her belongings. To think this mess was caused by simply rushing through tidying up her room, probably to get her screen time faster. Before we removed all the clutter from her closet and dresser drawers, her room appeared to be in pretty great shape. Whitewashed tomb people, whitewashed tomb!

The lesson for all four of us is this will NEVER happen again! L is having to put it all away in the correct place, and rewash all the laundry wadded up with dirty shoes and underwear. Rather than having her afternoon screen time, she’s cleaning her room from top to bottom. The lesson for J and me is one of constant vigilance in checking in all the hidden places, making sure they haven’t become her convenient dumpsite.

Friends, kids are lazy. It’s vital we and the parents own this truth and routinely open up their closets, dresser drawers, backpacks, and any other space with volume to hide junk in a flash. L needs us to hold her accountable for awhile longer. Do I worry that someday I may have a grown daughter that stuffs dirty dishes in her sock drawer, yes I do. I have to trust that at some point my children grow self-respect and decency to be truly bothered by unbridled filth. For now, we are their external voice of decency.

Let’s all say a collective prayer for our future grown children that they will not stash their unpaid cell phone bill in their dirty clothes hamper. God willing, we can hope that though there are dirty dishes, at least they’re being stored in the kitchen sink and not under the bathroom sink.