we were doing some spring cleaning today, prior to our house-shifting... and he takes the lead in packing the kids' toys... haha, all I heard is, "whoa! how can this get here?", "why is the pompom everywhere?", "why is there bluetac inside the lego block?", "where is the other part?", I laughed... I then told him, by looking at the trails of these toys, you can imagine what the kids have been doing everyday... you may think it's an excuse for me not to clean up their mess everyday, or not to impose a rule for them to clean up each set each time they're done with it, of to make sure that they keep things according to each and individual set... honestly I've tried all that... but when it's just so of their nature to mix things around and create their own play, I gave up... I told him... creativity and tidiness, somehow don't go along with each other... I don't want to set too many rules for them, and to myself... they pull everything from the house and mix them together and create new things, and on and off, I gave them rubbish to play, boxes, cup holder carton from MCD... and to confess... the mess is up to the point where I don't know where to start.., if I were to start putting them back in order... only simple houserules, for eg. mess must be contained in certain area... like a corner of their room, or a corner of the living room... but just to recap... I did honestly think that, when he was kinda complaining how messy the kids' toys are... what got into my mind was all the activities they were doing, creating and enjoying everyday... in this house, (of course I admit that it's not each time I do welcome all these actions with a cheerful smile)... for eg. my sofa's cover, the thread started coming out, why??? as to my son, it serves as a runway for his cars, a cliff, or some sort... ya, his cars ran and fell off the "cliff" sometimes... and some of them broke... sigh... but, unstoppable... so I gave up... and their babyhood nappies are their picnic mat, or tablecloth whenever my daughter wanted to have a tea party... does she play her tea party with just a tea party set?? nope... she took our mini christmas tree, some ring blocks that she called donuts, and some colourful pebbles which she put in her glass... that's why, it's how messy it can be... at the end of the play... but in the end, it's their memory... and their childhood... oh... I have tried, but I gave up... haha... let them be what they want to be...