Okay, I apologize in advance if this is a "duplicate" thought here - but here it goes. I have had to learn in the last couple weeks that what is important to me is my relationship with my two children (a special needs 7-year old boy, and a 5 year old girl). If that means that the dishes from lunch are still in the sink when my husband comes home from work, I'm sorry, but before the chastisment starts of how lazy I am - ask the kids what they did today. I used to tell my daughter ALL the time that we don't have time to go to the park that we pass on the way home from school. Why? Because I had too much to do at home. You know what, my daughter stopped talking to me so much and started acting very secluded - don't assume she was pouting because she wasn't - she just wanted to go to the park! What's wrong with that! Ask me if I've had to put our son in any time-outs because he is completely mellow when my husband comes home from work because I've taken a 1/2 hour to read an entire issue of Your Big Backyard to him and help him find and sound out his sightwords. Believe me, this is an on-going battle between me and my husband. He comes from a culture where the wife/mother stayed home, waited on them hand and foot, kept and immaculate house, but sacrificed a RELATIONSHIP with her children in order to keep the peace with her husband. I don't keep the neatest house, but I do sweep the floor and will occasionally mop - and the house has always been presentable when his family has visited, and I haven't heard one complain about the dust that may be on the top of the ceiling fan, but the one comment I do hear is how much they recognize I love my two kids and how they see that love is reciprocated. I put down vacuum when my son wants me to see that he's completed a level on his Blue's Clues Phonics game. I pray that my husband and I can overcome this, and I also pray that he see's the relationship between me and the kids as something that is more important than some dust bunnies in the hallway.
So maybe there was Cheerios on the floor - but is their home rat/mouse/ or cockroach infested because of her laziness - No. I'm not trying to make excuses why she can't keep a house - it's not my gift, maybe it's not hers. However, I am not willing to sacrifice the time to spend with my little ones because the day will come (especially for my daughter) when she would rather be at the mall or hanging out with her friends - I'll clean the house on Saturday and take her to park this afternoon...
