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: 05-10-2009
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:27am
We do hotdogs occasionally as a treat. With chili.
Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:35am
My mother and her sister do that with a car. Neither of them needs a car daily, but they both like to have one available once in awhile. So they share a car. They have done it for about 10 years and it has worked very well for them.

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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 - 10:37am
True salt helps, but if you have made the dough and let it rise and you realize you forgot salt, you can make flat rolls and sprinkle them with coarse salt and rosemary.

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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 - 10:39am
Catherine the Great apparently had a large collection of "interesting" furniture, custom built for various activities.

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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: 06-24-2008
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:43am
No, you don't really have to do that at all. The kid who won't eat the meal you prepared for the family can eat salad or a peanutbutter sandwich.



I am not really seeing a big distinction between "here's a salad or sandwich" and "here's chicken and potato." Both are giving the child an alternative food. In both cases the "have to" is based on a feeling that it's necessary, important or an internal desire to do it (internal have-to rather than external have-to).

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



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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2000
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:45am

How exactly does one make chili in a crockpot? How do you brown the meat and saute the onions?

And what is hot dog sauce?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2000
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:46am
Don't forget sauerkraut! Dh likes them that way. I've never heard of hot dog sauce either.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-10-2009
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:47am

The distinction for me is that a sandwich takes little time (2 min?) when the kids are little adn no time

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:48am
I made some Tuscan (saltless) bread a couple months ago. It was wonderful-- especially slathered with garlic butter. It would have been really good with tomato soup, too.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Fri, 07-30-2010 - 10:48am
In the southern part of this state, people put coleslaw on their hotdogs.

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