A Neat and Clean House vs Children

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
A Neat and Clean House vs Children
2597
Tue, 07-27-2010 - 8:35am

For those of you who like a neat and clean house, how do you keep it that way with children?

I find that if I am tied to goal of having a neat and clean house, I become a raging shrew against my children as they proceed to undo all the neatness I have worked so hard to attain. If I made a "neat and clean house" my goal, my children would not have their messy projects that take days/weeks to complete. My children would not pick up a book (casually left out)as they walk through the family room and browse through- discovering once again the mother actually knows about a few good books. I would let them watch more tv/computer time, as they don't make things as messy when they do. I would squash their ideas if I thought it would make too much of a mess. I wouldn't let them cook/experiment in the kitchen- as it is usually more work for me to clean up after they have "cleaned up". So, how do you inspire creativity and imagination in a neat and clean house? Are you on top of them to put things away as soon as they are done even if it is temporary? Where do you put the legos?....... Have you ever allowed them to take over the living room with all of their toys arranged in a city complex (thomas the train things were the Metro, legos and blocks were the buildings....)? How long would it stay up? Would let it be up for the summer so they could add to and change tings around as they got new ideas? Or allowed them to take over half of the family room for a month+ while they build and live in a beaver lodge (using all the empty shoe and other boxes and some that weren't empty)? Even if you have to walk around it everyday to get to the kitchen? Or do you require that all toys be put away everyday?

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:11pm
Guess I'm poor/cheap.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:18pm
Us, too. In fact, I'm shelling green beans from the garden for dinner tomorrow night right now.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:24pm
I'm so poor/cheap that sometimes I make lentil soup for dinner, also with no meat.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-10-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:28pm
I, for one, wouldn't call it "cheap". I'd say "inexpensive" is a better term. Cheap has a negative connotation that doesn't apply to rice and beans.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-22-2000
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:29pm
I am both poor and cheap, but that has nothing to do with why I eat/don't eat

Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:35pm
Yes, exactly. In south america they wrap it in tortillas, in India they eat dhal (lentils) over rice, and in china it is soy beans and rice. I imagine it must be a huge chunk of humanity for whom this is a dietary mainstay.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
– George Orwell
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:36pm
All this talk of beans and rice got me in the mood for rice so just put some on the cook. No beans and rice though. Have some chicken breast thawed so I will be having meat with my rice.
Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:37pm
Yes, this is hilarious. "Must eat meat or else we might seem poor."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
– George Orwell
Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:43pm

LOL, poor of the world, UNITE! Our LARGE meal today was green beans cooked with garlic and tomato, a small slice of feta and some wholegrain bread. My dinner was a tomato salad.

PS: We can afford to buy meat, honest, but half the time we just don't. Oh, and tomorrow we will have chick peas.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
– George Orwell
Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 5:44pm
Heeeyyyy! Living kinda large, huh?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
– George Orwell

Pages