toddler bedroomIf the state of cleanliness in my 4 year old's room at this moment in time is any indication of what I can expect when she's a teen, this clean freak mommy is in big trouble.

Already she changes her outfit about five times a day, but with each wardrobe shift those clothes never make it back into the drawers or the hamper. She also likes to collect teeny things -- plastic jewels, dolls, dogs, coins, beads, stones, leaves -- and has "picnics" or builds "houses" for them all over the floor.

So cleaning her room must be performed more like an archaeological dig than a simple grab-and-toss of the big trucks, spaceships and balls in my son's room. So she moans about cleaning because she says it's "too much work." Well, yah!

Taking extra long showers is one mysterious teen trait. Now I know that having a messy room is another. There's always the exception, but I giggled at how many moms in Answers actually used the same word -- disaster -- to describe their teen's room.

Laine2009: "The hubby and I used to play 'name that smell' when we went in our teenager's room, as she would leave food up there like some sort of horrifying science experiment."

momof21993: "My daughter's room is all just clothes, but it's a mess. I'm able to open the door in the morning to wake her up, but that's about it."

Sandyr911: "Most days it looks like the city dump."

So the above comments from mothers who obviously believe that a teen's room is their private space to do with as they please. There are other moms (like my own!) who demand it be kept tidy, and I have a feeliing I'm going to fall somewhere on that end of the spectrum. But what do you say ...?

Do you make your teen clean his room or is he allowed to leave it as messy and cluttered as he likes?

 

Related posts:

A Clean House With Toddlers?

Messy House: Do You Blame the Kids?