How to Live with the Mess Your Children Create
Reflections on household chaos and Imagination
Once long ago my two younger brothers got it into their heads to create an enormous fishpond. After years of keeping multiple aquariums, the older of the two drew up some plans and began to dig. They were barely teenagers at the time. My dad, always on board for anything that required a shovel or hammer, jumped in and helped. In went concrete and rebar, a filter, a fountain, and a dozen fish. Colourful koi.
Generations
Once long ago, my spouse lost his job in the last few days of the school year. There would be no summer vacation that year, no travel, no camping.
But I found an old trampoline a neighbour was selling for next to nothing that would be our seasonal fun. Up it went, and in rolled the kids. Our yard was the place to be, and my kids were happy to stay home.
As for camping, the boys threw their mattresses on the upstairs deck, and slept out under the stars. If it rained in the middle of the night — as it did often that year—my mom-alarm would go off, and we’d bundle those mattresses and the bedding back into the upstairs hallway.
