Organization

My kids have no idea how to organize things!  Their rooms are a mess (to me), their backpacks are disgusting (to me), and the way they allow all the toothpaste to come trickling down the tube is well, gross (to me)!  I just spent the last 30 minutes with Madelyn explaining to her how much easier life would be for her if she would just put her homework/classwork/notes in the corresponding notebooks I bought for her at the beginning of the schoool year (those are lost, probably somewhere in her room).  I remember having this same conversation with Conner....several times, to no avail.  I want those words back (if we do, indeed, only have a set number of words to use in our lives) and the time.  I am pretty sure that if they could learn organization skills, they would be more successful in school.  Right now, at this very moment, Maddie's backpack is organized.  All the loose papers are neatly tucked away in the proper folder but I am left wondering how long this will last. 

As I was looking in the container of extra school supplies for folders, I made the comment to Michael, "Why are my kids so unorganized?"  To which he responded "Because they are my kids too!"  I appreciated this comment more than I realized, for that simple sentence is what drove me to write in my blog tonight.  It's his subtle way of apologizing because had he really said he was sorry, I probably would have blown up about his lack of organization as well but I didn't because, well, he knows!  He really does get me.  He understands that if everyone just put things where they belonged, I would be a much more pleasant person!

Thanks, from Heather