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?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 7:52pm
So is spaghetti sauce called "sauce" if it's meatless and "gravy" if it has meat in it?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-02-2010
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 7:55pm
Nope.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:00pm
My Italian BIL says that there should be no meat in pasta sauce (he calls it sauce not gravy, but then he is from CT). The meat is with the meatballs you cook separately.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:03pm
You don't seem to think so when the starch is spaghetti....

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Kitty

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:04pm
:::smack:::: Coupon is NOT a verb. ;)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:06pm
And it tastes like crap.

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"If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."-- Kingsley Amis, British novelist, 1971 t .

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2005
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:12pm

Yes it is. It is easier for me to say couponing than to say browsing, selecting, cutting and organizing coupons, therefore, I am making it a verb.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do some cupcaking with my kids. We are making them from scratch with an all-natural mix and organic icing. It's my great-grandma's recipe. She got it from a French lady named Elisabeth Croquair.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:17pm
Yum, sounds awesome. Any favorites for the beans? (Black over kidney?)

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Kitty

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"If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."-- Kingsley Amis, British novelist, 1971 t .

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-02-2010
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:17pm
To each his own. Just like Pizza Hut is not *real* pizza, I still eat it on occasion.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Mon, 08-02-2010 - 8:18pm

the part that said, "ragu".

Ragu is disgusting. It tastes awful.

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Kitty

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"If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."-- Kingsley Amis, British novelist, 1971 t .

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