What kind of mess you ask? Maybe you're not asking, but I'm going to pretend that you are so that I can share with you the nature of my experience of my (almost) 4 year old's un-supervised creative curiosity, mild though it may be by some yard sticks out there.
She, Shayla, comes in my room to tell me that she doesn't want me to get up because she knows that I will be unhappy with what I find---First Flag--and that I need to give her time because she can't "clean it all up at once"--Second Flag. I proceed to get up and she says "Daddy, wait..".
"It's okay Shayla, I need to see what's out there", I say in a gentle tone knowing that this is an inevitable outcome of allowing her to be awake and moving about the house on her own for any length of time beyond 10 minutes or so.
I go into the kitchen to find the freezer open and the contents searched through by my Daughter's little hands. I grab and hold on to the items and realize that the door has been ajar for a little while. My eyes are drawn to the half gallon container of ice cream that sits perched at the front. Of course! That would've been my choice too. I turn around to find the counter, floor and dining room chair (used to climb with) covered in this very fine white powder--a children's Probiotics powder. The milk is out. Everything has it's lid removed: the Probiotics and the milk. I can see that she was trying to administer her daily dose of the beneficial bacterial complex by mixing it in with the goat's or soy milk that she usually gets and that something went wrong in the mechanics of the operation. The powder is Everywhere, and I mean Everywhere! It doesn't clean up easily and upon wiping/scrubbing it up it reminds me of how some proteinaceous substances cling to surfaces like glue. This $23.00 a bottle stuff is acting like that. Also, it seems that she inadvertently (I guess) got some milk inside the bottle while in the process of making her morning drink. Oh well. :) The stuff is kept cool, dry, and tightly sealed inside the fridge; that bottle is a Goner.
The coffee table in the living room has ice cream smeared across it, although only partially. Immediately I check the sofa! Good,....there's no ice cream lovingly rubbed into the upholstery--not that I can see anyway. I wipe up the table then look on the floor. There's no apparent spillage or tracking there. Good.
So, after wiping up the floor and counter in the kitchen, throwing the ice cream container away, saving what I could of the Probiotics, and wiping up the coffee table in the living room, I feel like I got lucky today as well as obtaining the proper motivation to Get Up Before My Child Does.
It may not sound like much, but I assure you that it is. I have no interest in tempting fate.