My house is actually kind of clean at the moment. By house, I mean just the main floor and by kind of clean, I mean that we vacuumed and dusted but there is a stack of laundry hidden in my pantry. The kids rooms are, well, who knows.
How did this miracle of domestic competence happen? It all started out on Saturday morning when I decided to not get out of bed but lay there futzing around on my phone until 10. Then I took a good long time eating breakfast, making coffee, more futzing on the phone. By the time we started cleaning, our slated activity for the day, it was past noon. Also, we had friends coming at 4.
I started out very sweetly giving instructions to my minions/children. One was to clean the living room. This is her regular chore which she constantly avoids until it gets so bad that I force the issue. Forcing the issue is usually greeted by a loss of spinal rigidity and a look of shock and surprise. But today was different. I said “go clean the living room” in my sweet mommy voice and she said (If you can believe it) “Ok, Mom!” What!?!?!
My other children were given their marching orders in a similar sweet tone and responded reasonably well and I thought maybe, just maybe, we could have a chill cleaning day where no one would cry or shout and the scary mom voice would remain a distant memory.
By 3pm the scary mom voice was out as I arbitrated the 4th fight of the day and dried the tears of yet another victim of sibling violence. It was around then that I began to wonder, as I stared around the still messy living room, is a tidy home worth this? Should I just do it myself and forget about teaching the kids to clean when it causes so much strife?
Ultimately, I do think it’s worth it for the kids to be responsible for taking care of our home but I really wish it came with fewer tantrums. Maybe there are children out there who can work together like the woodland creatures cleaning the cottage of the Seven Dwarfs but my children are not them. Cleaning makes them grumpy and they lash out when another kids so much as walks by. They will find the absolute stupidest things to fight over and provoke each other into full scale war with a look.
I don’t have any advice or wisdom to offer here, just putting out what is real right now. I keep hoping that they will at least learn enough about cleaning to be competent at it in their own homes. Either that or they will grow up hating it so much that they will turn their own homes into scary hoarder nests that have to be cleaned out by government officials while they are taken into a facility for psychiatric evaluation. These are the things that keep this momma up at night.
Messy Homeschool 
I love being in your home! It feels cozy, comfortable and safe. I’m sorry that we may have been a part of the cause for the “whirlwind” of cleaning products and emotions. 😦 But I totally get it. My tone in barking orders to my husband and child on “having guests over” day is definitely not pleasant. And make sure unexpected people knocking on the front door get no further into the house than the entry way. And NEVER, EVER open the downstairs bedroom door wide enough that someone could actually get a look into it! What am I teaching AK? That people will only like us if our house looks tidy? Issues (as you know) I’m trying to work on. Ugh. Kelly, please always continue to have your welcoming, friendly, fun house open for others to enjoy! It’s very comfortable, and the people inside of it are wonderful to be around!
LikeLike