Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh...my house is a pigsty!!! Ok, it's not that bad...

[lisamoe]

Ok, as part of my new Quest for Rest, I am lying in bed instead of following the children around cleaning up after them. I'm just going to let it go and try to clean what I can later in the morning. Also I am not currently doing dishes, laundry or picking up the kids room, although I will get to all those things eventually. If you are a visitor to my house, please bear with me if things aren't as clean as usual, but I am wearing myself out since I went back to work and I am too often finding myself driving while really too tired to be doing so, so I promised a friend I would try to slow down a little, so as not to be a hazard on the road.

Comments

[indiadawn.livejournal.com]

i agree with your friend. the main reason my house is such a mess is because if I went 90 for nothing cleaning it, it would immediately get messy again the minute the kids came home. although I felt so embarrassed to have you all go in there and see it such a mess..

[gentlemaitresse.livejournal.com]

It doesn't always work as well as I'd like, but I have found that doing housework *with* the children, rather than running around cleaning up *after* the children, is a great way to spend quality time with them! My two year old loves to fold wash cloths and wash the plastic cups and pick up the toys. My four year old is less enthusiastic these days, but once he gets started he can wash many of the dishes, fold a few things in the laundry, and help pick things up. We have a set time each day (although sometimes I forget until later) to pick up around the house before Daddy comes home. This is after naptime and after a snack, and I remind them either before or during the snack.

I have no idea if this will help you at all since you are working away. Maybe you can find something to inspire you to create your own way of doing things. :-)

If not, hire help! :-D

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

My 2 year old just turned 2 and he really isn't any help. My almost 6 year old will help though, with picking up laundry off the floor, taking dishes to the kitchen, etc. But it's almost as much work directing him as it is to just do it myself. Wanna trade kids? LOL

Amen, sistah!

[jorjedatoy.livejournal.com]

I have heard so often, "let her do chores with you, it'll be less work", but that is SO wrong. It is almost always MORE work when a child helps, ESPECIALLY when cleaning the child's room! Tyler likes to stand at the sink (on a step stool) and do dishes with me, but even then, I wash them first because I'm very particular about how clean my dishes get. She'll put laundry in the hampers for me, and I do have her do that. Otherwise, there just isn't much she can help me with. She loves to help me fold laundry, but I'd just want to re-fold stuff so it'll STACK better, but I know I shouldn't, because then it makes her think she didn't do it well enough. And so... I clean up after her. I don't follow her around to do it, though. That would certainly get exhausting. I tell you, though, we have a lil dog now, that could choke on small toys or eat them (so she'd not have them anymore), so she is more inclined to keep things picked up. heh I hadn't thought of this as a fringe benefit of her having a larger pet, or I'd have probably gotten her a dog much sooner! LOL

ramble, ramble, ramble

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

Some days, I figure: hey, if there are paths from one room to another without things falling on me, I've done my part. Everything doesn't have to be 100% done 100% of the time. Take a break--you deserve some rest.