Oct 14, 2008

out of the mouths ...

i'm always at my wits end over the mess in my girls' bedroom. we argue about it all the time. i say i can't understand how it can possibly get so messy. i say i can't even come in there anymore cause it just makes me so mad. i tell them they need to clean it. tomorrow. i say this everyday. then i say you are cleaning your room this weekend. do not go downstairs to watch cartoons, do not pass go. do not collect $200. clean your room. and they want to know what do not collect $200 means and i just say it means clean your room. and they say oh so earnestly we'll clean our room mommy, we promise. usually, they'll make some attempts, but mostly stuff is shoved under the bed, under the rug and in drawers. and then they start crying about how hard it is or argue about who isn't helping and pulling their cleaning weight and please can they just leave their room to have breakfast. so they come down for breakfast and then our day gets started or we all go off to some bike race and we forget all about the messy room till the next weekend.

my husband says that they know i will eventually break down and clean it myself. so they don't really give it their all. so i bite my tongue and don't touch a darn thing. i say i won't cave. insist their room can stay that way till the cows come home. i. will. not. cave.

i totally caved today. couldn't take it anymore. and we have guests coming. it's not like i really had two free hours to clean the room. i had a bunch of work to do. writing newsletters, water bottle orders, banner designs, race results to look up, laundry to fold, dishes to do, a house to vaccuum, school forms to sign, checks to write and halloween decorations to put up. but i caved and cleaned their room along with all that other stuff too. and cleaning their room included rearranging it. i love to rearrange.

so they come home from school. they take out their homework and have their snack of halloween cookies nice and warm from the oven. and then, they go upstairs and come running back down mommy! mommy! our room looks beautiful! thank you!

and they hug me.

and then, annabel says to me you should be a housekeeper.

14 comments:

Judi said...

s-u-c-k-e-r!!

Nat said...

Wrong thing to say.

Our war room is the basements where the toys are. I play psychomean mom. I come down with a large garbage bag, tell The Boy to tidy or I'll throw it ALL out.

I feel like a bitch. But there it is.

zanne said...

yeah judi, you nailed it.

nat - yeah -the psychomeanmom garbage bag threat? totally been there, done that.

~ lauren said...

ack! i could have written that.

housekeeper!

but i do it too, and with the garbage (giveaway) bag.

is it just with your girls? my 11 yo boy seems to have no prob at all cleaning his room - and most times, actually doing what i ask.

but the girl. eye, yie, yie.

Cindy said...

ouch! yep, gotta go with judi on that one :)

ItchyBits said...

I'm a caver too. The housekeeper thing is extremely funny

Anonymous said...

you cleaned their rooms and baked them cookies too? i would never clean my room!

Groover said...

You had me laughing. Thanks - your story's great contraception once again! :-)

You're a great mom! I don't know how you do it? I wouldn't be able to fit so many things in one day. And keep my sanity!

zanne said...

thanks groover ... but never said i was sane!

yes, lauren - seems to be big problem with girls mostly. my 12 year old keeps his floor clean - but every surface is covered with legos, books and little japanese character things - there is a weird, messy order to it all ... as long as its off the floor and i dont step on it every time i walk in his room, its fine by me!

house on hill road said...

omg. a housekeeper.
really funny - coffee through the nose funny.

Gotta Run..... said...

The last line is PRICELESS!!!

My oldest begged to have his bed directly on the floor growing up. Finally after years of asking I let him. That lasted about 4 months and he hated it. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's good!

I think the rooms just get TOO overwhelming... for them too. I'm finding it FAR more productive to give them specific things to clean in the disaster zone. i.e. "pick up all the littlest pet shop stuff and put it in it's box." And then, an hour later, "take all the clothes to the laundry room." And so on.

But in the end, we all know that I'm the biggest sucker of them all! HA!

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh. hahahahaha

when I was young my mom would half clean my room. Meaning, she would pick all the annoying stuff off the floor and put it on my bed. So that I had to put it somewhere before I could go to sleep. Somehow, it worked. And I still use this technique to get myself to fold laundry. :)

Stuart said...

Oh good more things to look forward to!