I have the greatest admiration for parents who can keep everything perfect all the time while raising several kids — clean house, make up beds, fold and put away laundry, cook healthy fresh meals at the dining table, tend a beautiful garden ….
It’s easier if you can afford to hire a maid and a nanny, but most families can’t.
I’ve wondered if messy people become more organized after they have children just to set a good example for their kids.[/quote]
The price of the neatness that you admire is too high, in my opinion, unless everyone is that way naturally. I have seen lots of studies like this one:
Basically – neatness and orderliness squelch novel thinking.
And since becoming a parent I’ve probably tolerated more mess (not less) so that my kids can, to give a recent example, tape straws to their doors to make a design that they like. My oldest made a nerf blow dart gun with PVC tubing (it’s impressive but we found nerf darts everywhere for weeks). They also mixed glow stick “juice” with dish soap to make glowing bubbles (Pinterest). Living in perpetual neatness would kill me, and I think the kids would suffer.
Just in case you misinterpret, we don’t have a dirty house (no dishes and glasses hanging around, etc.) but we often have a cluttered house. And I think the kids will remember the fun stuff more than they would the tidy spaces.
