So in Relief Society several weeks ago we had a lesson on work. Ironically, the discussion turned to you don't have to have a clean house because you need to be a good mother and not neglect your children. Which I agree is a valid point; however, that is where the discussion stayed and comment after comment was about how it was OK if your house is a mess as long as you are taking care of your family. So how did I feel coming out of the lesson? That I must be a bad mom because my house is clean!
I'm not saying that my house is 100% dust free all of the time and that things are always put away. I promise it's not. But I like my house clean. I can't go to bed at night if there are things laying out in the living room. I take 5 minutes and pick them up. I have a rotation every week that I try to do so that I'm not spending one full day cleaning. For example, I do laundry on Monday and clean the bathrooms on Friday rather than try to do it all in one day. It's not a perfect system but it seems to be working out for us so far.
One other thing that I am trying to do is to DEEP clean my house room by room, month by month. (It's one of my New Year's resolutions.) In January, I took the kitchen and went through every cupboard, drawer and closet and wiped everything down and threw out things I don't need. I cleaned all of the windows and blinds and washed walls and floors. And I have done it to two other rooms. (Well, I'm in the midst of the third room.) It has been so nice to take the whole month to do it so I don't get overwhelmed with how much there is to do. So far I have stayed on track and plan to the rest of the year. Hopefully by the end of the year every square inch of my house will have been deep cleaned and dejunked. I kind of got the idea from the Fly Lady but changed things so it will work for me and my house. But I really like the idea of focusing on one room (in addition to my other regularly scheduled chores) at a time and going through stuff. Just an idea maybe someone out there will appreciate.
Brockston loves to "help" me clean. Isn't that what work should be about? Teaching your kids to work with you. He helps me unload the dishwasher, scrub the toilets, "mop" the floor, etc. He's my helper. But I guess I'm a bad mom because I'm not devoting 100% of my attention to teaching him a second language and having him reading at the age of 2. (Although he does know the majority of his letters and his vocabulary is amazing. I have full on conversations with the kid.)
I'm not sure why the lesson bothered me but it really did. It seemed to me like a lot of justification for dirty houses. If I remember correctly: Cleanliness is next to godliness, right? Or am I wrong? Can you have both a clean house and well attended to children? Maybe it's different for me because I only have one kid right now, but I hope that it doesn't get that much worse.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Nate and Wendee
Brockston
Jamison
Blogs I Read
- Aimee and Adam
- Alyse and Bryan
- Ash and Coby
- Ash and Jeff
- Ashley and Adam
- Ashley and Eric
- Audrie and Jon
- Brent and Cambry
- Brent and Wendy
- Brindee and Ty
- Brittany and Thom
- Cameron and Nicole
- Cami and Brian
- Carrie and Nick
- Chad and Alicyn
- Cory and Adam
- Dan and Emily
- Dave and Katie
- Emily
- Emily and Nathan
- Heath and Lacie
- Jake
- Jake and Sylvia
- James and Shelly
- Jamie and Ben
- Janeen and Aaron
- Jenn and Andrew
- Jenny and Chad
- Karen and Jared
- Kat and Bill
- Lauren and Tyson
- Lindsay
- Matt and Jennifer
- Michelle and Dallas
- Nicole and Ryan
- Shelece and Josh
- Tami and Nick
- Tara and Dan
5 comments:
I totally think you can have both! Granted, its a LOT harder now to keep the house perfectly tidy because I have 2 little tornados running around! Notice I said tidy...not clean. I think cleaning is pretty easy to keep up with (except when I'm pregnant...and with a brand new baby), like dejunking, cleaning bathrooms, laundry, dusting, etc., but trying to keep the house completely tidy all the time can be exhausting. I recently discovered the Fly Lady and I love it. I can't wait to implement it in my home. I love the idea of doing one room a month. I am SO with you, it is so important to teach our children how to work and keep a clean home!!! I find myself cleaning up after them though because its just easier if I do it, but in reality its not even beneficial to me! Just making more work for myself in the future. I totally get why the lesson would bother you, it would probably bother me too! But in the cases where I don't have a perfect day, I try not to beat myself up about it...its hard enough to be a good mom
Yes, I think it is possible to have both, and should be hoped for!
But maybe down the road when we find ourselves in a house full of several children and more demands on our time, we will have a greater need to prioritize...and then your relationships should be first.
In the meantime, my family is not happy in a messy house, so we aim for {relative} order AND meaningful time together.
I have a cleaning schedule too, and it works great for me!
Way to go!
i totally agree with Janeen!! Relationships are the most important thing and if I have to choose between getting the dinner dishes put away or reading with my children before bed...I'm going to choose to read to them. i meant to add that to my previous comment but decided to go to bed :)
And by the way, there is no way in heck you are a bad mom! You are fantastic!
You are right, we can have clean houses and lots of time with our kids. I think there are days when the kids need extra attention and those are messy house days, but especially as they get older they need you to do chores with them or they don't want to do them.
I agree with you that you can have a clean house and be a good mom. I try to do, just what you do with cleaning a little each week, not all in one day. And I have my kids help me too, not all the time but they love to put away the clean silverware, the plastic dishes, wash the windows and put away clean clothes. I think you can make cleaning fun. I usually push the boys in the laundry basket after we are done putting away the laundry. It also helps my kids to learn to do things for themselves like get their own dishes out, putting their own toys away etc.. and helps them gain independence. I think some mothers who are stay at home moms might feel like they can't keep a clean home because they try to go and do too many things with their kids rather than just stay at home and have time with them. We stay at home a lot (all day - Jed takes our 1 car to work), which helps me to interact with my boys more rather than just shuffling from one activity to another, at least that is what I see sometimes. But, that being said I agree with everyone else that there are days when the house does get a little messy and I give my boys extra time if they need it or want it.
Post a Comment