House tour for parents 4

What is this series!?

It's Thursday time for another tour of a house that is real! It sure is liberating to realize how messy we ALL are! 

This time it's time to explore my sister's house.   She has 2 sons, a wild and rambunctious 2 year old and a playful and busy 9 (?!) year old who also has a lot of friends over.  They've got a lot of space, but that amazing things about kids is that no matter what the square-footage they cover it all!

Here are her words:

How often do you pick up?

We usually do a general pick-up of the house about every other day or when we are tripping over too many toys.   Every other week we have a college aged woman that comes over to clean the house so we do a big pick-up the evening before she comes.

How does it impact your partnership?

I don't mind clutter but Mr. does and Mr. doesn't mind dirt (or doesn't even see it) but I do.   This creates some conflict but since we both know it about each other we try to accommodate one another. 

  I get frustrated though because Mr. dislikes the clutter so instead of putting stuff where it belongs (putting puzzle pieces back with the right puzzle, putting the marble pieces in their tote) he just sticks it into whatever toy box is the closest.   He also doesn't really understand my compulsive need to have the bathroom sinks clean or the kitchen floors clean, but he tolerates it.

How does it impact your relationship with your children?

I try to be very aware of not making the boys pick up their stuff just because they are done with it for the moment.   However, there are times when I think I resent them for making messes and then expecting that I'll clean them up.   I am way more stressed out by dirt than by toys and other stuff spread out all over the house though.

Keep sending them, because, I don't know about you but I am realizing how we are all operating a bit on the messy side! Yay!