Major change around here...I'm not fighting the clutter-at least not with the vengeance of the past 7 years. A few weeks ago it started to seem more ok. I wanted to let the kids paint even though there was a traveling pony tea party taking over the stairs. It all started with an article I remember reading in Family Fun magazine a few years ago about a "Yes Box." That's where you put activities kids want to do that you had to say "no" to today, but want to agree to someday. So I wanted to make a "yes box" for Channukah, which I never did, so I decided to just say "yes" more. A lot more. Yes to baking, yes to exploring the texture of flour and never making it into anything (waste makes me die a little inside), yes to bike riding after pajamas are on, yes to painting (which they love and I previously allowed biannually). 

Trust me, our house reflects this new approach to parenting (squalor). Then a few days ago something else changed. I realized I was fighting the clutter in our schedule too-feeling like if we just did less somehow family magic would be everpresent. But I'm starting to get it...a certain amount of clutter-the toys and the obligations-is just the stuff of life. It adds a richness and sparks all of our questions and creativity. Then to come full circle with my magazine-rich life, there is an article in this week's Newsweek about how fighting the clutter takes time away from the people and activities we really want to be enjoying. The author argues that it's not the clutter itself that needs to be addressed it's our response to it. 

One more tie-in. I'm kind of obesessed with tie-ins lately. This is the time-pre Pesach- that is Jewishly the most anti-clutter time of the year. The deep cleaning to rid the house of chametz, the water and redemption imagery in the story, and yet we need another whole set of kitchen everything that has to be stored for 358 days a year. Hmm...I'm embracing the irony! Can I reward this epiphany with a trip to Goodwill for a new set of Passover dishes?