The Anti-Anti-Clutter Movement
The New York Times has an interesting article suggesting that disorder may not be as bad as the “professional organizers” have made it out to be:
An anti-anticlutter movement is afoot, one that says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder. Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds who reap higher salaries than those with neat “office landscapes” and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and cooler than their tidier counterparts. It’s a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands.
When I was a kid, I always felt sorry for my friends whose parents always made them put everything away, because they often decided not to undertake a project for fear of the mess it would create. Now that I’m a parent, I allow my own kids to create what could only be described as a mess. For example, they have been very creative with their mixing of different toys: Duplo creations cavorting with Thomas the Tank Engine layouts while Little People on building blocks stand nearby watching. If I made them put everything away all the time, this creative mixing might never occur.