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   
      
   ---   
    * Origin: There Can Only Be 1 (2:263/950)