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: 01-08-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:53pm
That's fine, but again, willfully refusing to learn a basic life skill isn't exactly the definition of "independent."
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:54pm
I keep wondering if we're dealing with a pulp fiction writer trying to "voice" a new character!
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:56pm
That's all? Only three main dishes and twelve sides? Hardly enough to sustain life, lol.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-09-2010
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:56pm

well, i'm not worried about it.


I prefer to pay AAA


Polkadots&FlipFlops

Polkadotandflipflops

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-09-2010
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:58pm
That is ONE meal. Don't you think that is enough? Considering the fact that someone else is going in w/another meal like that the next day and then the next?

Polkadots&FlipFlops

Polkadotandflipflops

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:58pm
Again, no one is worried about anything except your claim to be "independent." I pay AAA too, in case something goes wrong I can't handle.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:59pm
Well, I don't know. I mean, it's only about 14,000 calories or something along those lines.
Avatar for turtleemom
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2007
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:59pm

That's really not taking into account what other people would like or need if you already have plans on what to bring.

Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 12:59pm
I just thank my lucky stars I wasn't born in the south. I have a very healthy constitution and a killer metabolism, but I think both would have succumbed under such an onslaught.

*^*^*^*^*

To be is to do - Plato
To be or not to be - Hamlet
Do-be-do-be-do - Sinatra

Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 1:01pm
It is definitely a painstaking and quite clever amalgam of the "greatest hits."

*^*^*^*^*

To be is to do - Plato
To be or not to be - Hamlet
Do-be-do-be-do - Sinatra

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