Ok, if it were me reading this in my 30’s, I probably wouldn’t read any topic as mundane as cleanliness. But, now that I’ve put a few miles under the tires, this fundamental skill of life contains way more than I would have thought. There’s more here than you’d first guess.
You parents are underway with the greatest undertaking possible – structuring a life from which your child will come to distinguish themselves from mere animals and experience the higher potentials in life where a person finds meaning. Sounds big, but it’s true. Your child will take from you the beginnings of conscious thought and build a world view of good, bad, better, best. They will come to understand what effort looks like. They will learn right from wrong using your beliefs. This is the foundation on which a person builds their human structure where, ultimately, they distinguish their human qualities from those of their animal origins. And how do you do all this? How do you build such a structure? You start by teaching clean. Clear away the debris of the day. You can’t build a building on rubble; it must be cleared away to begin the foundation. Cleanliness precedes the foundation!
The fundamentals of cleanliness begin almost immediately. If an infant can play with a toy, part of that play is putting the toy back in its place. It’s not a separate element, but part of the play. “A place for everything and everything in its place” should be recited continuously in the verbal formation days. The natural tendency of a child of any age is to drop whatever entertaining thing has been enjoyed and mentally start a new entertainment. The mental switch is immediate and complete – the last toy hardly even exists. Teaching a child that play is over, and a new freedom begins, only happens once the last freedom is put away. This trains a mental skill that will be invaluable later in life – to maintain self-control past the immediate flash of desire. Imagine the excitement and enthusiasm of two little boys playing a game and as it ends a flash of an idea occurs to start something new. How powerful is the boy who maintains control long enough to clean up the first game.
Cleanliness indicates an orderly life. Think about the teenager whose room is a catastrophe with yesterday’s drink on the nightstand, some sort of food wrapper near the trashcan, clothes strewn across the floor, and bed unmade for the umpteenth day in a row – how will studying go? What if the volume of music and the steady beat of texts interrupts the attempt to focus? For the human brain to develop the elusive skill of focus, orderliness of the environment plays a huge role. There is no such thing as multitasking when it comes to studying.
Further, clean is to orderly what orderly is to organization and what organization is to value. A clean environment has a person prioritize where things go or even if they should be kept. Therefore, a periodic cleaning and organizing, going through the toys that should be kept or given away, is the early stages of placing value in material things. And here is a great opportunity to place value of people over belongings. Toys that have served their time can be given to other children who might value them more. And that is a moral lesson.
In the 17th century the proverbial saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” came to reference the questionable hygiene of the time, but moreover, it referenced moral cleanliness. A clean heart and clean mind prepare the way for a right relationship with God. And so it is. The modern world with its constant barrage of electronic entertainment and connectivity is loud static competing for everyone’s attention. The early skill of cleanliness rises to the level of virtue because it develops the self-control necessary to manage one’s environment and therefore one’s attention. A person who can’t manage their environment and attention is not much different than an animal. Too much rubble. The higher reaches of the human structure start with the cleaning.
To a clean environment, a clean mind, and a clean heart!!
All the best,
Dave and Lis Marr