A Messy House Is a Norm If You Have Kids

Having got used to maintaining immaculate order in their homes, women can get flustered when a baby arrives and order goes out of the window. It’s an ongoing struggle to keep up the state of things which you inevitably lose – or are bound to lose in the nearest future. You get into the habit of being apologetic to visitors, complaining of the helter-skelter in your living room and kitchen, and keep insisting that the mess in your house is sure to appall everyone who comes within a mile of the place.

Not quite so bad! We’ve been here before, and we realize what it is to have small children in the house. Granted, it’s not what we generally call order. But, taking everything into account, there’s no reason to blame yourself for what is actually quite normal. Let’s go over your house and check the state from the viewpoint of a parent of three boys from several months to 5 years of age.

Now, let’s get down to the point how your guests (whom you either turn away or let in after a barrage of apologies) really see your place.

• No wonder that a room or two in your house remain messed up and it seems to be their perpetual state. What a pity no-one can appreciate the decoration of your living room now that your business files, sewing paraphernalia, other personal stuff (probably including the wine rack) are all stocked here, with probably toys that strayed here and are left unrecovered so far. Not nice and hardly lends itself to tidying, true. But so it is.
• No wonder you can see laundry items lying freely all over the place. There may be laundry baskets judiciously placed about the house, and yet you are very likely to discover soiled items in the strangest places. Even if the baskets are full of clean clothes, there’s no guarantee they make it into their proper drawers at the first opportunity. It’s one of those things, ladies.
• No wonder there are dirty dishes everywhere, and finding a clean spoon can become a serious problem. You use what funny utensils are at hand for going about your kitchen work, and make a hurried rush to provide the kids with clean plates for their lunch. Is it so? Then you have grounds to be fairly proud of how you are coping.
• No wonder there are bath toys in and around the bath. Naturally, you couldn’t have bothered about them at the time, having your hands full. Let them wait for their turn.
• No wonder there are toys everywhere, and it requires a six-armed oriental deity to be able to pick them up as they get left – and even they may have find it “mission impossible.” When you come around to picking toys up, look in all the strange places – behind the toilet seat, under armchair padding, between car seats, in the washer. If you go through your house with a tooth comb, you may restore toy order – for one evening. The next day the game of hide-and-seek will go on and on.
• No wonder cups go straying all over the place – and never come back by themselves. To be run down later in all kinds of places, some of them not quite empty. Nowadays children are caught up in the prevent-dehydration campaign which keeps them running to the kitchen for a cuppa juice every half an hour. Do they come with a cup? Nope. It’s to be found under a piece of furniture in a day or two.
• No wonder there are stains everywhere. Markers, pens, pencils, everything that can leave a mark is sure to leave one on the walls, furniture, doors, and they are notoriously difficult to obliterate. Moreover, it’s useless, for you will have fresh ones before long.
• No wonder the car floor is practically invisible. It is the perfect disposal place for too many things, including diapers, Chick-fil-A cups, toys – as well as pieces of broken toys! Your hubby stopped complaining about it long ago.
• No wonder you missed the trash day – not for the first time. The bins are something awful and you’re a domestic genius if you don’t have stuff lying around them which you can’t press in. Make a point to take it away the next time and you will be unbelievably glad you’ve done it!
• No wonder the place is dusty. When was the last time you dusted properly, not just brushed off the corners of the pieces of furniture most often used? Before you gave birth? Well, so it is with everyone. Our out-of-the-way spots must be simply terrifying. They will have to wait.
• No wonder there are places which are in so bad disrepair that they are unusable. Nor they will be in the foreseeable future. We are not going to admit it. What are they? A bathroom with broken tiles, staircases with broken stairs, decks riddled with holes? You can bet all your mom-friends have a spot like this – make them open up and compare notes.

So, when you start asking around and make all these hideous truths of your friends come into light, you will realize that it’s more or less all the same with everyone else – and maybe feel less shamed and apologetic afterwards!