Baylessfamily.org

I once heard a saying, it went something like “Cleaning the house when children are growing is like shoveling snow while it’s still snowing.” This is how I feel all day, everyday. I am always shoveling and it is always snowing. Before having children I would say I had a clean house the majority of the time. When we were first married and living in an apartment I would spend the first half of every Saturday cleaning, and with that done the place stayed pretty nice the entire week. Even when Savanna was a baby, things were pretty neat at home. I and liked it that way, I still very much like to have a nice, clean home, it make me feel calm and happy. I am home most of the day and it’s easier to live in cleanliness instead of messiness. However, as more children came along and those children got older and began to collect a lot of stuff, keeping my house clean has been a major challenge. Preparing and eating 3 meals day here makes a mess. I clean the kitchen at least twice a day. The laundry piles up and as soon as a basket of clean, folded laundry is put away, it is filled up with dirty stuff right away. And then there are the toys, toys and books and crayons and paper everywhere! I try, I really do, but at the end of the day, it looks as if nothing has been done. This has become one of my biggest short comings as of late. I don’t know how to keep it all clean. My children have chores to do. They are responsible for cleaning their own rooms and the playroom, and they usually do a good job. Of course, once this is done, they get something out to play with and it is all undone. I want my children to be responsible, to have respect for their home, but I also want them to be kids. How do you find a balance? My goal is to let my kids be kids and play and laugh and grow and teach them to help out and want to have things neat and tidy. I also want to spend time playing with them and not spend all my time cleaning up after them. If anyone out there actually reads this blog, please let me know your secret of finding this balance. This is my mommy thought for the day!