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: 02-24-2010
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:36am
It may or may not be unusual but I have a friend who was raped because she opened the door to a stranger. Her husband had just left a couple minutes before for work, she opened the door figuring it was him & he forgot something. I think it is a good thing to be careful who you open the door to. But my friend would not be trying to argue that the same rapist couldn't have grabbed her or attacked her when she was outside in front of her house, or down the street in that same neighborhood.

“Clearly," said Arthur,"you're an idiot- but you're our kind of idiot. Come on.” 
― Markus ZusakThe Book Thief

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:38am
DH's cousin in Ithaca has that. Several neighbors bought the lawn mower together and have a shared shed of various lawn implements. It works fairly well. They all have very small lawns, so if two people want it at the same time, there isn't too much waiting. We tend to borrow rarer tools amongst our selves in our neighborhood rather than having a designated sharing shed. One neighbor has a spreader everyone uses. Another has a saw on a stick for high pruning. Things like that. We talked with one of our neighbors about sharing a lawn mower- but it hasn't worked out yet.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:41am
And salt. I have experienced the folly of forgetting the salt :)

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Kitty

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2005
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:43am
That's very interesting. it summarizes differences in opinion in purchases in my house. My husband tends to buy for the 5% (wants a bigger vehicle for vacations, wanted a home with a guest bedroom) and I like lower-key, not out of any social consciousness, just because I am more content with less stuff. I have pointed out the math of renting a U-haul trailer for a week vs the cost of owning the larger car, but I still lose on things like having a guest room. And I always lose on the discussions about passing along items that we might use someday, but someone else would use daily (baby-related things).
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:43am
Really? Your HOA demands double ovens? We have a really nitpicky HOA, and they don't have a single opinion as to what kind of nor how much kitchen equipment we're allowed to have.

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Kitty

Proud member of the Rainbow Poop Debate Squad

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Kitty

"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: 07-09-2010
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:44am

And I never argued that either. It could happen in the front yard, back yard, walking. It could at the movie theater when coming out anytime, but especially at 2am, it could happen at the Target parking lot, sadly and unfortunately it could happen anywhere.


What I did say is I excercise careful precaution everywhere but yes I take the door advice given by two law enforcement professionals.


Our neighborhood continues a zero crime rate month to month year to year so yes I do feel safe going out for a glass of sweet tea and sitting on my front porch. If I didn't we would have never bought in this neighborhood (or we would have already moved for sure because that is high criteria for us in purchasing a house)


If I used THAT logic then I'd never go to a movie theater, mall, grocery store or even the parking garage at the hospital for dr appointments




Polkadots&FlipFlops



Edited 7/30/2010 9:46 am ET by polkadotandflipflops

Polkadotandflipflops

 

 

Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:54am
That would the kind of thing that we truly never eat. We probably eat other stuff that is just as "bad," but I really can't imagine what dh and dd would say or do if I served them hotdogs, lol.

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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
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 9:55am
I wondered that too, but I am not sure I want to know.

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Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
– George Orwell
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:13am

I thought about googling it, but the kids are home and I was afraid of what would pop up on my pc screen.

Long ago ( before kids), when the internet was young, we were looking at furniture from Hooker Furniture. DH wanted to see their website and googled it. It turned out they didn't have a web site yet. Others did though. Some very interesting furniture (among other things) turned up on the the google search.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-10-2009
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:25am

I use my crockpot occasionally.

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