Child guided house-cleaning

What to do and where to start? These were the questions on my mind this morning when I looked around my messy home. I was finally going to have a day at home to clean and organize but couldn’t decide where to begin. The dishes? The laundry? The dining room floor?........I should not have worried so much. As the morning progressed, it became clear that my children were going to guide me through the house (and the yard) on my cleaning expedition. First stop; the dining room. After taking my older children to school I returned home with the 3 little ones and made them their second breakfast. The first one was cereal, this one was the, “make me feel like I’m a real mother and cook something” meal of eggs and toast. I sat them down and delivered the dishes. While they were happily eating a lovingly cooked breakfast, I decided to start a load of laundry. But just moments into the whole thing I heard a loud crash and the sound of a broken dish. What was I thinking?!!!! I had given Luke-Xavier a glass dish on his high-chair tray. Ok, obviously the message was, “not time to do laundry. Time to sweep and clean dining room floor”. Great! Thank you Lex for showing me where to start. Once that was cleaned up and everyone was done I let them go outside while I headed back to the laundry room. And soon I was guided to my next cleaning job......the back patio, followed by the bathroom. Lex, having not eaten the eggs and toast, was still hungry and decided that the dog’s breakfast looked more appetizing than the one I had prepared. But, the key to really good dog food is that you have to dunk it in the dog’s water first. MMMMMM! Gets just the right amount of flavor and texture going. So, out I go to sweep up the dog food and dump the water. But wait! I now have to bathe Luke-Xavier (Lex) because dog food not only tastes good,once it’s wet, it becomes a fabulous moisturizer. So, #3 on the cleaning list, the bathroom. I figured while he was in the tub I could get the rest of the bathroom wiped down. Mission accomplished. I dried him off and relished the fact that he now smelled like a clean baby and not a puppy. However, I had underestimated Max and Gabi’s need to show me where to clean next! So, off to the playroom! They both think that baking is great and like to help me or the older girls when we make something. This time, they decided to try it on their own. And why not?! After-all we have provided a perfectly good kitchen for them in the playroom They were just putting it to good use. Flour is hard to clean up (helpful tip of the day). Thank goodness I’d gotten there before the eggs were brought out. Well, by the time this was done, I no longer wondered where to clean. By now it was lunch time which meant back to the kitchen to start all over again. You’ll be happy to know that I did, finally, get that load of laundry done. And thanks to the guidance of my children the house looks great!
Child guided house-cleaning. Try it!
Good night~