My daughters share a bedroom.  It’s a lovely space with khaki-colored walls and equine-inspired decor.  It is a place that is distinctly “them,” a blending of two unique individuals.

Where many people see a place to sleep, I see a place to practice.  A domain all their own where creativity and orderliness can take flight.

Creativity and Orderliness.

These two must go hand in hand or you will quickly find your daughters amassing enormous quantities of paper bits, posters, trinkets, and knick-knacks. But never fear!  You can teach your daughters how to care for their very first domain beautifully and neatly.

• Give them specific guidelines on how to clean their bedrooms.  You can either write out a step-by-step process and post it in their room, or take a picture of the room in a tidy state as an example of what to strive for, or simply show them how to do it, watch them do it a few times, and then let them try on their own followed by an inspection from mom.  No matter the method you choose, make sure they understand what you expect and how to achieve that goal.

• Explain to them why their room should be tidy.  Growing up, I was told things like no one would want to be my college roommate when I grew up if I didn’t do a better job of keeping a tidy room or what would my friends think if they came over and saw my room in such disarray.  This line of reasoning made little to no impact on me because it made little to no sense.  We don’t keep our homes clean so others will ooh and aah over what we have accomplished or so our friends will like us, we keep our homes clean because we are a direct reflection of the Lord, a God of order, not chaos. (2 Cor 3:18)

• Teach them how to take their “likes” and refine them into creative and beautiful decor.  Does you daughter love photography?  Put some of her best photographs into a collage frame and hang them in her room.  Does she adore lime green?  Show her how to accent with pillows, ribbons, touches of a favorite color rather than an entire room of one color.  Is she forever bringing into the house pretty rocks and lovely weeds?  Show her how to press the weeds wildflowers and frame them or use the rocks in the bottom of a vase.  As she matures she will begin to naturally create from her own unique viewpoint and those individual tastes will bring beauty to her own home someday.

• Give her tools to tame the clutter.  Nearly every girl I know has a tendency to see beauty everywhere she looks and for some reason that beauty often manifests itself in a stockpile of treasures.  My girls like to collect pictures and articles from magazines they find particularly beautiful or helpful.  Rather than allow those scraps of paper to overtake their room, I gave each of them two notebooks: 1 for “Things I Like” and 1 for “Homemaking.”  The Things I Like notebook is simply for things they find interesting or fun, the Homemaking notebook is a kind of “save for someday” scrapbook of things they might be able to use when they are wives and mothers.

This is a training ground, a time of opportunity.  Let your daughters embrace their first domain and create and clean, try new things and add their own personalities to their space.  Offer gentle guidance and quiet suggestions.  Teach them what it means to be a keeper of their home by being a keeper of their bedroom.