My house is messy.
The number one reason I yell at my kids is mess. They generate mess at a fascinating rate and it infuriates me. I seem to spend all day, every day cleaning up after them.
Today, I paused. I looked around with a fresh eye, and for a minute I didn’t see the mess at all. I saw joy.
The blocks all over the floor held hours and hours of my son’s learning and success. The dress-ups strewn all over the carpet carried my toddler’s giggles and fairy princess dreams. The books, haphazardly stacked in the corner housed cuddles and quiet time, fast running out as my nine year old steamrolls towards adolescence.
Today I didn’t yell.
Today I giggled and cuddled and reveled in the fleeting childhood of my three amazing children.
Dishes can wait.
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Posted on J June, 2012, in Family, Gratitude, Life, Motherhood, Parenting, Self-esteem and tagged adolescence, building blocks, building with lego, can't keep up with housework, clean house, fairy princess costume, Happy family, kissing sore knee better, knock-knock jokes, lego, lego obsession, messy house, my son loves lego, picture of a messy house, princess, spaghetti and meatballs, tips for a happy home. Bookmark the permalink. 26 Comments.
At LAST the blog allowed me in! ABOUT TIME! Mishy.. I love love love what you are doing. It’s precious and special and it’s especially wonderful for me because I am so far away from you all. You give me and dad a gift, every time you write something, and I hope that you know it. More power to your pen..er… Ipad!
I love you tons
Mamma Bear ♥
You’re the reason I can appreciate a messy house
Growing up, I never bragged about my clean house (sorry…) but my friends were all hideously jealous of my phenomenal parents.
Hahaha
Sometimes you just need to take that step backwards and a little to the side. All of a sudden you’ve got a new angle and can see it for what it is. I am still practicing this art, but you taught me a little bit of a lesson today…lovely written piece about what actually really matters!!! Keep it up…and nice to meet you 
Thank you! I can assure you the ratio of Screaming Banshee:Mary Poppins is 90:10 but I’m trying. That’s gotta count a little, right?
Nice to meet you too
I can totally relate to the messy syndrome. I’ve got four kids and their house is a mess. I live separately but am there all day anyway. And now, I let them just make the mess and they have to learn to clean up themselves. A good motivator is getting an allowance. But if there are weeds in the living room, they don’t get their pay. ha ha.
Weeds in the living room add charm, If you’re tired enough…
I have always loved the phrase “My house is clean enough to be healthy, but messy enough to be happy.”
I love this post. I often feel so guilty letting the work wait, but I try to push the feeling aside and just BE with my girls. Thanks for this!
Only feel guilty about putting the perfect house before your children. I promise you, no child ever grew up and thanked her mother for ignoring her in favour of a vacuum cleaner. Did you read my post about my mother? Hint: our house was never ‘perfect’. It was cluttered, chaotic and happy.
Love your blog, by the way
I love this! My mother has told me that she wishes she could have enjoyed us more and not been as worried about her house! If you saw my house right now it would seem that I have followed her advice!! Lol! Great to find you on voiceBoks! I love your site!! I’m now very happily following!
Thank you Kathy! I’m heading over to check out your blog now
My mother worked fulltime & kept a spotless home. Shame she never had any time left to play with me. I work part time and don’t stress about mess, I’d rather have fun with my kids and build happy memories. Though everytime my mother comes over she insists on cleaning up (history repeats itself) rather than playing with her grand kids.
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