cleaning house with kids

Image courtesy: yourecards.com

I have been struggling with housekeeping issues for a long time.
Add to that, the kids pulling out countless sheets of paper, books, toys, pencils, pens, erasers, clothes- to draw, paint, color, write letters, get back at each other, play, read or simply to impress their friends…and by the end of the day I am wondering what the hell have I been doing all day! Some days, I literally pull my hair out, on others hubby darling is left to do that as I am too exhausted to even care! This, after many attempts to get the kids involved in the cleaning.

So, I hit upon a cool plan lately. Whichever of A&A’s stuff I see lying on the sofa, dining table, chair or wherever- I trash it without discrimination. When I first declared this, A&A only half-listened to what I was saying. So, I did a live demo. I trashed their favorite paint box lying on the bedroom platform. They looked at each other, as if to say, ” She really meant that?”. Oh yes, Darlings! I meant that!

Now, we follow a daily ritual. I time their clean-up time. 15 minutes before which every one of their things have to go back into place. Anything out of place goes into trash. Yes, even the prized Amar Chitra Katha collection qualifies for this.

So, guess what? Now, I only have to ask this dreaded question, ” Is this the right place for this?” And it disappears as if by magic!

They say, make hay while the Sun shines! I say, Use mamma power while you still can!!!