Kids and Cleaning: Let it Go

You fold the laundry and go put away clothes. You come back and the toddler has thrown the rest of your piles all over the floor. So much for all the hard work you just did. You finally get the dishes done and now it's lunch and the sink is getting full again. Somedays it feels like all you do is clean and clean and clean. And what do you have to show for it at the end of the day? A messy house.

Motherhood is not easy. You are taking a human being that knows just about nothing and teaching them how to be productive citizens and helpful people. There are a lot of ways to help teach a child to clean and to be willing to clean. But today I am going to focus on just letting it go.


Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." ~Phyllis Diller.


That is how it feels sometimes. You go out and shovel and then it keeps snowing and you can barely see that you even shoveled. But the point is that you can see it. It did help a little. There is that much less snow to shovel. Same goes with cleaning. Don't expect perfection. You are living with little tornadoes. It's tough sometimes. You don't want to do it anymore, because it's not like anyone else seems to care how the house looks. I've learned that cleaning a house isn't really about having a clean house. It's about teaching the kids that it's what we should do. We should take some time for cleaning and then go back to having fun. It's about a having a calm peaceful feeling, rather than living in chaos.

But where is the mother whose house is so shocking? She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking. The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow, for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

I don't know where that quote comes from. But it is so true. Do you want to spend all day cleaning everyday and just telling the kids that you can't play with them because you are busy? That tells them that your clean house is more important than them. I have sometimes wanted to keep cleaning but had to stop to play with my daughter for 15 minutes. She's happier because Mom took some time out and I had fun spending time focused on her. Then I get to go back to cleaning. And our kids do grow up. They only stay little for a short time. Cleaning is important, but so is spending time with your little ones.

Next time I'll post more about some ways to make cleaning fun and ways you can get everyone involved, hopefully without complaining.

Daily Challenge

I am going to start listing a daily challenge every day. I hope these challenges will make a difference in your day to day routine! They will be listed to the right of this post. Feel free to send me any ideas you have to survivormoms@yahoo.com.

Cold Season

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I know I am getting really tired of the cold and flu season. It seems like I just get one of my three boys better, and then another one comes down with something else.
So this post is for all of you out there who might have something to share on how to make being sick more survivable.
Here are the tips that I have tried that have worked for me.

*Cold and Flu - I was doing some research online and found that Garlic is great for treating and preventing the common cold and flu. The site said that garlic is a broad spectrum antibiotic and antibacterial, along with containing other useful compounds that can help the immune system fight off illness.

*Sore throats-  Add 1 tsp cayenne pepper and 1 tsp salt to 1/4 cup warm water. Mix well and gargle for 30 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times a day.  ( I recently had a sore throat with white spots that were very painful. I found this remedy online and decided it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. The first night I did this, within an hour the pain was half of what it was to begin with. The next day, the white spots were gone but it was still slightly sore. The next day my throat felt completely better!)

Honey- coats the throat, reducing soreness and cough. Honey also has some antiseptic and antibacterial properties, which may help to heal the sore throat.
Coughs- I have been told by several people, that rubbing vicks on the bottom of your feet before bedtime, helps to quiet a cough. I will have to try it tonight with my sons who are coughing- I'll let you know how it works :)
So I rubbed Vicks onto my boys chest, neck and feet. I was actually amazed to find that their coughing really did seem to be a lot less frequent. I will continue to test this remedy!

I have been told that HONEY is a great natural remedy for a cough.