Feb 21 2008
Left Handed Cleaning
We are in turn the rugs over mode as my parents are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I started the kids cleaning their rooms over the Presidents Day 3 day weekend. Josiah cleaned his room quickly and efficiently. Abby, who loves a mess, cleaned her room quickly because I allowed her to sleep over at her friends house. Awhile ago, I had helped Abby clean her room and put everything away in its proper sorted order. When we were done I said, “See, doesn’t your room look much better?” To which she replied, “No. It doesn’t feel very homey to me.” Zeke cleaned his room with a little help from Mom. Gabe, well, it’s actually painful for me to watch Gabe clean his room. How Gabe plays and how Gabe cleans has such a randomness to it that it can not be comprehended by his right handed Mother. I have cleaned along beside him and instructed him in how to break down a large task (clean your room) into smaller tasks (put away stuffed animals, put away costumes, put away legos, etc). Instead, Gabe picks up one lego, looks at it for awhile, attaches it to another lego piece, puts it away, picks up one stuffed animal, looks at it awhile, finds a costume dresses it up, and puts it away, picks up one dirty sock, runs to the laundry chute, puts it in. The other possible cleaning method of picking up every piece of dirty laundry, so that you only have to make one trip to the laundry chute completely escapes him. He was not allowed to watch tv, play the computer, ds or wii until his room was cleaned. It took him all 3 days. When he was done, nothing was actually put away neatly in the myriad of assorted bins that I have given him. It was a hodge podge of unique creations piled on his shelves. Part way through this cleaning attempt, I called my left handed friend for a consultation. “Can you perform a single task to completion before starting something else?” “Rarely,” was the answer. She told me that when the deadline arrived, he would be done. On Monday night he was done. All I then needed to do was accept a left handed standard.
Mugs, I feel your pain and I am actually glad that I am not the only one who has trouble with the rooms. My oldest, Janice, seems to think cleaning is moving the dirty clothes from the bed to the floor. Using the laundry basket we got her is a foreign concept. My son, he is the neat freek. Everything has its place, except clothes, they can be in random assorted piles according to cleanliness (ie if it does not smell bad you can still wear it, which by the way I grow out of about 25 years ago). This brings me to my youngest, who like Abby likes the lived in look. According to Gillian, she is only 6, “a messy room has a lived in feel”.
Gabe, When can you come to Minnesota and help me clean my room
Your cousin Matthew
Bolton,
If they suggest buying new pans because they don’t want to wash the old ones, you can blame it on their uncle.
Mugs,
How true. Although their Uncle has become very domesticated and has a little one of his own, which slays me. Funny to here on the phone and when he is changing his son, how shall we say, not using the diaper but Rich’s shirt.
Any cleaning deficiencies can be blamed entirely on Manry DNA.
lol wait…let’s rephrase that…the MENS side of the MANRY DNA…
some of us get it…ha
tee hee
Gabe sounds like me, I wonder if that means I should be left handed?
My Dad is, so maybe he passed on the problems wothout the excuse.
Yay for Abby
~Her best buddy (I better be -.-)