CLEANING THEORY

“One day you’ll miss the day with your little one” – I repeat to myself when I step on the block.

Cleaning is fun is the biggest scam I’ve heard and I’m trying to sell my kids the same trick. My Dad used to say: “Tidy up after children is like shoveling snow from the stairs at the entrance, and after finishing work, the snow falls again with double strength”. Now having two children, I support and appreciate this wisdom.

How this wisdom works with me in real life 90% depends on the mood of my children. 10% depends on my power, my patience, but I think it’s best expressed as a percentage:

Let’s get started

20% of tidying up the room is arguing over a toy that was lost centuries ago.

 5% or 10% of cleaning is to match the box to which the found toy belongs. Only 5% because the choice is usually the first box nearby. 10% if they check two more and give up too.

30% of cleaning a room is about complaining and blaming each other for making this mess, or even more fun, finding the blame on someone who is not there. Sentence type: 

It’s not my mess, it was definitely Viktoria (our cousin) and a more fun example from the younger daughter:

 It was Dad’s fault. 

Here I have to protect Dad, because now a 2-year-old princess blames him for everything.

5% of cleaning is an extremely dangerous situation when an older child calls me from the room, shouting: 

 Mommy, Mommy, Dorothy ate something she found in Lego blocks!

 Here I am going through a heart attack because there are many possibilities, for example, a little lego (which has never happened) or an old crunch (which has happened) or an old candy that just happened but she split out, saying:

YUCKY!!!

 After this accident, children forget to clean and start to build Lego constructions. 

40% of cleaning is just tidying up Lego blocks.

    So how many percent does real cleaning take? 

There is no definite answer to this, and in my situation, it certainly doesn’t exist yet. The mess is still there, maybe smaller and maybe bigger than it was before cleaning. A huge matter is repeating the process to teach your child the habit of cleaning. Taking small steps to achieve at least 50% of a tidy up. I can see the progress in my children’s cleaning habits. Strong 10%. !! Ever since they recently created a pencil holder(https://littlepuzzlesandme.com/little-puzzles-art/) the markers from the floor or the desk disappeared, because they’ve put them in the holder. 10% because they just cleared away things from the desk.

And a funny summary for you, my dear parents: 

Shiny apartment you had 2 kids ago.