On Cleaning

Things have been getting increasingly disorderly around the house. The fast comings and goings of children with so many bags, papers, equipment, and who knows what, means that "I'll get that later," is uttered far more often than "gosh, let's put this away and help out."

My position of letting every person deal with his or her own stuff was simply untenable. Here's a big shocker- mess doesn't bother (my) children like it bothers adults. Not to mention, if I'm going to chose between making them clean or study, school will always come first. 

I've taken every stance at both ends of the extreme, from being mother and maid in chief, to the drill sargent who won't so much as get a spoon when asked. I wish I could say that I've cracked the code and figured out the best way, but I'm writing this in complete defeat. 

I have made a few changes that I'm happy with: 

Big kids do their own laundry on Sunday. It takes all of five minutes to put their clothes in the washing machine and hit start, and later hang their things on the line to dry. 

I no longer clear any dishes or non- perishables that are not my own or Seb's. After a few days of this, one could hardly see the counter, so I've softened that stance to moving dishes to a tray, where they await eventual migration to the dishwasher. 

The kids have to clean their own bathroom. 

Lastly, I moved the TV cabinet from our upstairs sala to the entrance. It's a catch-all for rugby/tennis/PE bags, and has a separate compartment for shoes. So far, so good. 

Since I don't have recent pictures with me, here are a few of Freddy at Seb's current age- 16 months. 

It feels like decades ago that I was taller than Moojie and Freddy was a baby.