when tardiness strikes me (which is rather often these days), this is how jan’s room looks like: a total mess.

jan's messy room
pardon the blurred photo. jan took the photo himself.

and i’m not embarassed to say that no, i don’t feel any compulsion to clean up after jan everytime. having lived without househelp for the last several years, i’ve long given up on having a spic-and-span household where everything is in their proper places all the time. jan has always had a lot of freedom to mess up his space (which sometimes extend to the entire flat) and has often come up with creative outputs. not only can he play on his own for extended periods, he has also made full use of the toys, games, books, and other paraphernalia we have bought him. indeed, aside from a few toy figures, all his belongings are thoroughly used, abused, and enjoyed to their fullest (and that’s why i hate toy figures).

what is an ongoing crusade though, is to teach jan to clean up his own mess. sometimes, he does it with little nudging, and he’s mightily proud when he does. “look, i did it all on my own!” often though, he’d find all sorts of alibi to get away with doing just the minimum.

oh well, he’s his mother’s son afterall.

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