What Is Your Definition of Clean?

I remember when I was interviewing for my first restaurant manager position. They had me take one of those telephone personality indicator things. They were very certain to tell me that it was a personality indicator, not a personality test. I think that was because I failed the darn thing, but that's another story. One of the questions was 'Does clean have a smell?'. At that point in my life (young and fresh, body un-ravaged by pregnancy, mind un-ravaged by parenting) I remember thinking what an odd question. I mean, dirty definitely has a smell, but clean....isn't that the absence of smell?

Now that I'm a parent, I oftentimes find myself circling back to the premise of that question. What is the definition of clean? I share with you two possible answers to this question. I asked my children to clean their rooms. They both came back to me about the same time informing me they were done. First up, my girl's version of clean.

Pretty good, huh? Nice and tidy, she put away all her toys and clothes. Definitely my girl. Now what did the little man come up with? Keep in mind, he was in his room for pretty much the same amount of time as my girl. I now present the little man's version clean.


Hmmmm, I might have some more work to do with that one.