Hello Nancy!

Saturday February 18 2006 22:07, you wrote to me:

 NB> -=> Quoting Sean Rima to Danny Ceppa on 02-15-06  23:26 <=-

 NB>>>> think she went on to say something about priorities being in
 NB>>>> the right place... :)
 SR>>>> I always say that a tidy house is the sign of a sick mind :)
 SR>>>> And the kids need a place to have a wobbly from time to time :)
 DC>>> A perfect place with kids in it is a repressive place.
 SR>>> Sure is, and if they don't make a mess they are not happy
 DC>> Kids will be kids.  Forcing them to grow up too early is not
 DC>> good for them.

 SR>> No, and I hate seeing families where the kids are clean and tidy
 SR>> and their homes look like a show house

 NB> Me, too.  Seems unnatural, somehow... :)   There are* a few for whom
 NB> this is normal, and who naturally are nasty-neat even as kids, but I'm
 NB> sure they aren't anywhere near a majority or significant minority...

 NB> I made a fast and lasting friend once, just because of our agreement
 NB> on what constituted a comfortable (vs uncomfortable) home...  We
 NB> toured Strong Museum here in Rochester, a museum for children and of
 NB> past culture (think old toys, dolls, furniture, lunchboxes, other
 NB> artifacts of daily living, Sesame Street, etc... lots of hands-on
 NB> exhibits).  As we enjoyed the dollhouses, we kept remarking how UNtrue
 NB> to nature they were, in their pristine arrangments and no clutter
 NB> whatsoever.  We saw a model of an old country store, filled to the
 NB> brim with (somewhat haphazard) merchandise, and remarked how that was
 NB> a BIT more like it! And we critiqued each bit of furniture as to how
 NB> practical it would be, once it had the normal piles of stuff upon it
 NB> ("That one wouldn't work, the papers would just fall right off the
 NB> back!")...  

A friend of ours believes the same way we do that a clean and tidy house is
not a home, fine keep on top of the mess but give the kids room to breathe
and expolre their own creativeity

Sean

---