The cleanest room in the house

I think that if a mom expects her house to be clean constantly, she's either fooling herself or has hired a full time staff dedicated to maintenance. For every other mom, it's a delicate balance. I do believe there is an operational standard, a guest standard (which usually involves cleaning the visible areas). However, there is a threshold point of mess that every mom has at which point a room MUST be cleaned....and cleaned thoroughly.

The office has been a hot spot in our house for messes. Papers congregate there, the box of recycled paper that the children use to color on or cut up in iiiity bitty pieces usually end up spread throughout the room. The office has also become a stopping point for socks, Hunter's shirts, toys, random pieces of sets.

As I child I can remember wanting to contribute to the state of things whatever they may be. In kindergarten we were transitioning from one activity to another and it was quite noisy. I decided to contribute by stomping my feet along the way and banging two books together. I had no idea it was a problem until my teacher scolded me for making so much noise. Hey, I was just contributing....

I think that's true for most children today. They want to contribute.

I reached my threshold point for the state of the office today. I got out big garbage bags and started throwing things away. Laundry baskets were used to gather toys, another for clothes. Papers that had been sitting out were filled appropriately and the boxes of curriculum stuff were organized and packed away. What a transformation! I wish I had a before and after shot just to bask in the productivity.

The vacuum was still upstairs when I put the kids to bed, so after they were all tucked in I picked up their room and then vacuumed up all the little bitty stuff all over the floor. My mom used to vacuum the upstairs every night after we had gone to bed. I never understood why she made so much noise when we were supposed to be sleeping, but for whatever reason the sound of the vacuum cleaner made me sleepy. For years after whenever I would hear the vacuum running I would inevitably yawn. Well, LO AND BEHOLD....my children zonked right out after vacuuming their room. There was no two hour game of grab fanny. It was GREAT!!!!

Having discovered this little gem, I think that we'll be vacuuming their room every night from now on. It may not need it on a daily basis, but I don't mind that they children's room is the cleanest room in the house so long as I can get some down time at the end of the day. Phew!