How much should you control creativity?

On the one hand, I want to encourage my kids’ creativity.

I don’t know many 5 and 6 year olds who know how to use Canola Oil, baking powder, sugar, and salt to make perfect cookies with NO adult supervision.

I’m at the point now where I can take a nap (while Nadia takes one too) and leave Paco and Tonka on their own.

More often than not, I wake up to some culinary concoction having been put together in the kitchen.

They cracked the eggs, put in the vanilla extract, mixed the batter…everything.

All they need me to do is put the stuff in the oven (they’ve already put it on a baking sheet-and applied the non-stick spray).

Truly remarkable.

On the other hand, they tend to leave a mess and use a ton of confectionary items (choc. chips, M&Ms, etc.) The floor is, shall we say, not the cleanest.

And, it’s up to me to clean it up.

I’ve told them that “clean up is part of baking,” but that doesn’t always work.

What’s the right balance?