Sunday, October 7, 2007

Paint on the carpet, Handprints on the wall

Well, now that the heat of the summer is over (for non-desert dwelling readers....average temps are 110-115F/ 43-46C with a high of 120F/49C...and the air-conditioner can only compensate so much! Both outside and indoor temps are not encouraging to activity unless it's very early or late in the day. Yes, I'm whining/whingeing abit here...but you see, I'm a coastal/cooler climate creature by nature and still haven't adjusted to the lack of humidity nor the high temps. (Although I'll take a summer here over Florida, anyday!!!) But temperatures and the argument of the best place to live (I've yet to endure a Scottish or Alaskan winter) are not the subject of this post.

My post is on....children and messy rooms!! We who are parents can relate, I think!! With the cooler temps and the holidays coming, I've decided to get onto task of a Fall Cleaning. Into the murky depths of their rooms I go, prepared for battle!! I miss the squeaky toy, but step on the Legos. My foot is unscathed. I have donned my boots which are normally reserved for outdoor ranch work; they are perfect for this jungle adventure. I perservere onwards, can I make it to the bed? How can a child collect so much in such a short time? My spring cleaning plan of action must be re-evalutated to be sure! The toys have changed as they've gotten older, now 10, 13 and 16yrs, but the clutter is still the same. I will overcome, and vanquish into the rubbish/trash bin all outdated, broken and non-essential items!! Tears of joy for them, as things long thought lost are found, again!! Tears of joy for me, as at last I can see their floors, again!! The day's event has left me, as my friend would say, fairly puggled (exhausted, in Scots). Some advice has been to just shut their doors and walk away, but I cannot. Soon they will be out of the nest. I'm not sure what I'm going to do?! The shock of things staying tidy might be too much!! Perhaps, they can stay here for the start of their college years.....

5 comments:

Pam said...

my girls have a problem w keeping their rooms clean....i DID the whole 'cleanup' thing TWICE and told them NO MORE. next time, i would just throw things in the trash. but you see, they are not allowed to go outside w/o two things being accomplished for the day (stepson's 12, girls are almost 10 n 8)1. all homework 2. a 10-min room clean up (that requires bed being made, nothing on top of it, and nothing on the floors. my girls would do the 10 min c/u but for some reason, the saturday where we give them a break(or the day we have no game for football/cheer) their rooms are total disasters and while stepson is enjoying the outdoors after sunday's (or the alt day as mentioned above), they spend hours dilly dallying...watching tv...you name it, then complain they can't go outside. it's like helloooo, if you stopped messing around you'd be done already lol

Pam said...

oops correction...girls ARE 10 n 8 lol i was going to type 11 n 9

Lori said...

Just stopping by your blog for the first time!
I don't have kids yet but my sister has 4 and I know what you mean about the massive amounts of stuff they collect.
I am having a baby in a few months and I think I will deprive him somewhat of 'stuff'. Is that really possible though? I'm also going to teach him to clean up his own messes! Again, I know it's wishful thinking. If he takes after his dad he has a chance, if he takes after me forget it. My room was always a mess growing up. I don't know why it is so hard to keep a room clean.
Good luck with your fall cleaning!

Lins said...

Treasure the mess! They'll soon be up and gone!

His Girl Friday said...

Hi all, thanks for the comments! They DO grow up so fast! I've put together rules such as you mentioned Ciara :)

To be honest, I think the messes only become a problem during those moments where I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I work 2 12hour day-shifts a week at the hospital, and I homeschool the the two younger kids thru an internet based curriculum, and the highschooler schools at home in a charter highschool designed by the homeschool programme( k12.com ) so I have them around all day. Which is wonderful, actually, except, as I said, the messes pile up!!! For the most part, I'm ok with 'comfortably cluttered' it just need to be 'clean'!! :))