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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How does "cooking and serving a different meal" teach some lesson that is different from "not cooking and serving a different meal"? Just because she's eating PB&J instead of {insert something you would cook}? If you were to serve her a meat, vegetable or fruit that she'd eat, would that be so bad? Wouldn't she then be helping her to learn to eat "grownup food"?
I am just not getting how it's so wonderful to let your child eat a sandwich whenever she doesn't want what the family is having, but heaven forbid if another mother actually puts the alternative food on the stove and cooks it.
Ten Rules for Being Human
Malcolm Gladwell Blink
Yep.
Even dishes designed to cook slow don't work well in my situation.
Perhaps part of the problem is that 6-8 hours is a lot of leeway! If you put something in there and it's done after six hours, but you aren't home for seven, then it's going to be overcooked. I never knew just how long to keep things in the crockpot, plus you aren't supposed to open it while cooking. I find that hard to do if I'm trying to determine if something is actually done or not.
And yes, even when I was working, I was never gone less than 9-10 hours. I worked 8.5-9 hr days at a minimum, plus commute time. It just seemed like more work to me than just planning menus that don't take more than 35-40 minutes to prepare and cook. You can cook a stuffed chicken breast in less than 30 minutes!
“Clearly," said Arthur,"you're an idiot- but you're our kind of idiot. Come on.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
I love peonies.
I used to have delphiniums and one day a lady I did not know stopped and complimented me on them & asked if she could cut some. I thought that odd, since she wasn't a friend or even an acquaintance. I said no.
“Clearly," said Arthur,"you're an idiot- but you're our kind of idiot. Come on.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
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