Mayhem-Smile When You Can See The Carpet

When my children were small, we used to sing a song to the tune of “High Ho, High Ho it’s off to work we go.” WE would sing, “Pick up our toys and put them all away. It’s time for them to go to sleep and play another day!” As my children got older they would sing the song and pick up the toys themselves.

Time passed, the song disappeared, the toys changed to clothes, electronics, make-up, shoes, musical instruments…and things didn’t seem to get “picked up” anymore.

Before long, there was a distinction in how picked-up a room was. There was “kid” clean and “mama” clean. Kid clean meant there was at least a walk way from the door to the closet and the bed had enough space for one person to curl up and find a nesting position. This was the kind of clean that required me to keep the doors closed in order to maintain my sanity.

Once a month, the children were required to mama-clean their rooms. Of course this always came with rolled eyes and groans and moans. The translation for mama-clean meant throwing away trash, picking up clothes, vacuuming, and putting all miscellaneous items in some type of order. For that one day, I was able to walk down the hall and enjoy the sunshine as it poured in through the windows and into my home.

To weary moms everywhere…let me offer these simple words…don’t look under the beds or open the closest doors. Enjoy the illusion that mama clean DOES exist. Allow yourself the momentary glance at your children’s floors and remember the saying “out of site, out of mind” or “pick your battles”. The truth of the matter is…it’s just stuff. The day will come when their stuff will be gone and your house will be as clean as you like. The day will come when they will keep their house the way they want and they too, will close their children’s doors and have mama-clean days. The truth is…teach them to respect your space…you in turn respect theirs…and if they try and give you that one clean day a month, smile when you can see the carpet.