A Neat and Clean House vs Children
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| 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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I seem to have that talent as well. I also work in a neighborhood with lots of ... ummmm, we'll use the word "interesting" ... activity going on at all times. Since I've been working there (5+ years) I have had at least 10 incidents where I've picked up nails, glass, screws, and an assortment of other goodies in the parking lot. Once I left the office to find a wooden slat with three nails in it attached to a sidewall. It's pretty much all in a day's work around there. My employer has replaced several tires for us because of this, and there is an auto service shop near us that knows the deal with our parking lots and gives us complimentary tire patches whenever that's possible. The streets in that area are cobblestone, too, so stuff sometimes gets caught between the stones and ends up in our tires. Good times!
They are really great for a big batch of homemade chilli, hot dog sauce, potato, cheese & bacon soup....if you fill it w/water and put your hot dogs in makes them delish vs boiling, to simmer baked beans (I do Paula Deen's style that are yummy) and to slow cook big boneless ribs for example
But if you don't cook in them they are still great to keep foods good steamy hot on the buffet.
We must run it daily (so that is 7x in a week) but very
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