<p>Hilarious. If it repeats tomorrow in your area, do watch. Rob Cordry (sp?) reacts iwith alarm to the idea that Harvard has suddenly become an elitist institution. ;)</p>
<p>Oh, I missed it. My S has to fill out his housing form. On it, it asks what kind of room he would like. Choices include “quiet” “social” “neat” and “disordered” and a few more I can’t remember. He can’t make up his mind. He says he would like a neat room but he’s afraid it will end up disordered (definitely agree on this). I suggested that DormAid would be the perfect solution (though I would not pay for it!); it would be better than having mom descend on him every few weeks full of organizing zeal.</p>
<p>My S is neat but is convinced that neat people other than himself have uptight personalities. So…on his housing form he put that he was messy. Got a roommate who would eat a banana, drop the peel on the floor, and leave it there! After a while the roommate’s slobbiness overshadowed any charming personality characteristics he may have had lol. </p>
<p>Marite, the other solution is not to go in the room when you visit. 
We’ve done that with our messy kid (not S).</p>
<p>Aparent5:
The ideal would be a magic wand that would make messes disappear.
The solution is to summon him home rather than launching periodic maternal crusades on behalf of tidiness.</p>
<p>My other S checked “neat” on his housing form. His freshman roommate described himself as “a neat freak.” When I visited, their room was an indescribable mess.</p>
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<p>My D gave me the adolescent “Look of Death” when I pulled out my cleaning supplies as she moved in freshman year. I caved and left everything in the bathroom with little hope that they might be used. DormAid would have given me the opportunity to offer her the gift of a room cleaning sometime down the road…perhaps on her birthday. At least once during the year she would have been able to see the floor. :o</p>
<p>Marite, but I bet it was a “neat” indescribable mess compared to those who checked “messy.” Orders of magnitude you know.</p>
<p>Did I tell you about the time(s) that my son handed over the dorm room’s wastebaskets to be properly cleaned because creatures were flying out of them?</p>