“I can’t find any socks that match,” he said. “I also can’t find my agenda or my folder.”

Well, is it any wonder?

Just look at his room. What in the world happened here? you may ask. It’s what we asked, too.

There is no simple explanation. There is just “an 8-year-old happened here.”

Here’s the thing. We don’t keep toys in our boys’ rooms (it’s just easier that way–they don’t play with them when they’re supposed to be sleeping). But we do keep books. And the 8-year-0ld recently got to move his art supplies into his room, because he wants to be a cinematographer who makes cartoons, and, well, we wanted to encourage that.

Until.this.room.

His daddy went upstairs to look for a pair of socks before school this morning and found 16 singles. I think all the socks lost in the dryer’s black hole have found a portal to this room. Other things using the portal: all the old balloons from St. Patrick’s Day that should be completely deflated by now, every single colored pencil in the neighborhood and 10 billion pieces of paper.

This weekend his daddy and I will be helping him clean his room, and he’ll be paying us for our time.

Money is the way you teach an 8-year-old to keep his room clean.