to think you can have a nice house with children and pets

[ruledbyheart]

Thats it really.
I live in nice house and have worked hard to get it looking as it does I have two dogs and 3 children under 5yrs, I am a sahm so have the time to keep it nice and I spend time all my time with DC'S they even help me clean - through choice not order.

My mum and some of my friends who have come round have commented on it and act like I must ignore my DC'S and never do anything messy - I love baking and painting with my little ones and we do make mess, they do just generally make me feel like I have OCD ( I don't).

AIBU?

YANBU. Your house, your choice. Just so long as you're not restricting your DC's play, or feeling stressed about cleaning and tidying, then no - how could it be a problem?

I grew up in a chaotic home though I was an only one. My Mum said she was too intelligent to like housework. . I find it difficult to keep tidy but I'm trying. I think a happy medium is probably best for everybody. I'd like my house to be a lot a bit cleaner and tidier.

DM's house is NEVER messy or dirty. Mine is frequently messy but also not really dirty. I have DH, 2 x DCs under 4 and an elderly, ill-tempered tomcat.

Mess makes me really stressed so I try to deal with it as soon as it happens. It would work wonderfully if DH & DCs worked on the same theory as me. I have a cleaner for 2 hours a week which makes a huge amount of difference as I work full time & just don't have the time to devote to cleaning that I did while I was on maternity leave. DH does all the food preparation & ironing, as well as 50% of the laundry. We split house maintenance between us.

I think it is possible to have a clean & tidy house with children & pets, but it's MUCH easier to maintain rather than start from scratch.

Which is why my new house move is being planned with military precision so we don't get into bad habits straight away & I don't actually freak out beyond repair at the chaos (has ishoos).