You know, my mom was not a neat freak. My mom kept the house clean enough that it wasn’t literally dirty, but it was always lived in and cluttered. We had a lot of stuff. We still have a lot of stuff and I house-keep the same way. Cluttered, but clean.
Which brings us to the kids. Am I a bad role model for cleaning? I hate cleaning. No. Really. I hate cleaning. If I never had to sweep or mop or pretend that everything has a place ever again I’d be in heaven. If laundry could live in baskets (really, what is the point of putting it away? We’re going to take it out and wear it anyway, so why not leave it folded in a basket?) and clean dishes could live in the dishwasher (or in the dish rack) and spills never happened… Oh what a joy it would be!
Oops, off topic. Kids. Cleaning. My kids don’t do it. It turns into a screaming match, drags on all day long and at the end of the day it takes me half an hour to do what they fought doing all day long. I’ve tried bribing them. Once you’re done we can do this thing over here that’s tons of fun! I’ve tried doing fun stuff first. This never works. I’ve tried cleaning with them. I’ve tried directing them. I’ve tried micro-managing them (do this. Now do this. Now do this.) but this is as wearing on me as it is on them. I’ve tried splitting it up and assigning jobs. I’ve tried giving a vague “clean this up” and walking away (always a bad bad bad idea).
So it probably reflects on me and my very real abhorrence to cleaning. I just can’t get around it. I don’t mind the clutter. I know where everything is. I can see the floor. I’m not walking on things to get to other things.
So is it really a problem? I just want them to put their things away. And clean up their trash (there are always crafting scraps on the floor – that I can’t stand, it’s dirt not clutter). And stay on task! I put my things away. I put my dishes in the sink. I put my dirty clothes in the hamper. I hang up my wet towel to use again. At the end of the day, for the most part, my mess is picked up and ready to start anew. Not so much for them.
I let it go this week. The living room was trashed. We started this fight at 8 this morning. It’s 1 now. It’s still not entirely picked up. My only real cleaning rule is you aren’t done until I can mop. Not so hard. Or so I thought. I suspect I will be tossing things out again soon. I already did a bit earlier, but apparently that lesson was quickly forgotten.
I’ve been having this fight for at least six years now. Probably more. How do you get your kids to help pick up?
