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: 03-27-2000
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:18pm
Almost everywhere that serves iced tea in MD has unsweetened iced tea. I know, because unless I'm drinking water, I almost always get iced tea and I prefer unsweetened. In fact, a few weeks ago, I met a friend who was passing through town at a Chik-Fil-A. I ordered iced tea. I usually just put a little bit of sugar in it myself which is what I did when I sat down. I took a big sip and it was SO sweet I couldn't drink it. I brought it back and asked if they had unsweetened tea, which they did. I never even thought to ask for unsweetened tea because around here, that's what you get when you order iced tea. I can think of only a couple of times when I was asked by a waitress if I wanted sweetened vs. unsweetened, but I can't even remember if that was in a MD restaurant or not.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2000
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:22pm
Honestly, I have no idea if I could change a tire. Yes, I learned at the time that I was learning how to drive, but in my 26 years of driving, I have never had a flat tire. I have no idea if I would still remember how to do so. It's one of those things that I think unless you've had to use the skill, it's not something you might easily remember. I do have emergency roadside service though, so if it came down to it, I'd probably just call rather than attempt to do it myself at this point.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:24pm

it's safer for the tow truck guy because he parks his BIG truck partway INTO the road behind my car

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2000
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:25pm
Here in MD it's called iced tea too but it is almost always unsweetened.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:26pm
Same here in NOVA. Although it is debatable if NOVA is part of the south (or even Virginia as the VA welcome rest area is south of NoVa). If my taxes didn't go to Richmond and my civil rights weren't violated, I'd never know I was living in Virginia.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:29pm
No, I honestly couldn't care less what you do and what you do and don't teach your children. I think that my job as a parent to my kids is to teach my kids basic life skills like car maintenance and how to handle minor problems like a flat tire, a dead battery, things like that. Those things are part of what I consider to be basic life skills, and the more they know and can do, the less they will have to depend on other people to do things for them. I want my kids to be as competent, knowledgable, and independent as possible.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:36pm

I don't think it is an either/or. I think that it is a good skill to have even if one does not intend to ever use it, just in case it is needed.

I think that it is a skill that is easily remembered and I think the specifics for vehicles are usually in the vehicle's manual.

I remember as a young child being out with my mother, aunt, grandmother and great grandmother (of course way before cell phones). I don't think that any of them had changed a tire themselves previous to that, but they had enough knowledge of the basics to get the job done.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2009
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:36pm

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I think we all want this, but luckily we each have our own standards and definitions of what this comprises.


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-09-2010
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:40pm
I'm much deeper in the south than Virginia...I'd say that is why we hear and experience differently.

Polkadots&FlipFlops

Polkadotandflipflops

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-24-2008
Thu, 07-29-2010 - 6:40pm
I wonder how I made it this long without a "basic life skill?" Shrug.

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.' -Kahlil Gibran



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