to think that a dirty/messy house does not mean you're a "Great Mum"?

[trilogyofjuniper]

Aaaaaagh! All those stupid slogans. "My floors are sticky and my kitchen is messy because I'm a great mum!", etc.

No, it's because you're a slob.

Yeah. I'm a slob...

As a slob, I agree. I parent just the same whether my floors sparkle or not.YANBU.

Now to me there is a difference between dirty and messy. My house isn't dirty but can be quite messy as I have 3 DC's and a part time mindee. Messy to me is toys on the floor, things waiting to be put away, things like that, basically everything that we get around to. But the floors are clean (at the end of the day anyway!), countertops are wiped etc.

I agree - nothing to do with being a great parent, but everyone to with having low standards.

YANBU

My kitchen floor is dirty. I clean it every day and am the only bloody person in my house who bothers to clean it and today (I have decided) is my day off. I am not a 'greatmum' but I am a borderline average parent. You might possibly want to prepare yourself for a flaming.

though in some cases, the person has genuinly been too busy tending to their children to clean, I also know of several people who post tripe like this simply because they can't be arsed cleaning.

Not meaning to be judgy, but if you spend most of the day in front of the telly, your house is a mess because you spent most of the day in front of the telly. It's fuck all to do with being a mum.

Just five more minutes and I will mop..I promise!

Anyone who has 'Mum' slogans on display in their house should be put in the stocks and pelted with rotten fruit.

I can sort of see it. Hasn't everyone had the "shall I wash the kitchen floor or sit with the DDs and play a game" dilemma?

Oh this, definitely. And smugly declaring a parenting style of 'benign neglect'. Throwaway remarks like, 'oh, my kids are here somewhere...'

Smugnet.

Where are all these slogans OP? I've not seen any

I am just bloody lazy...

Your just swapping one generalisation for another, surely?

It's that bloody poem about dirty windows.

This was on Facebook wasn't it OP?

I am a rubbish mum AND a slob then. Great

Us slatterns need to find something to make us feel better about living in a state of chaos, surely?

Not that I've seen it yet, but I know exactly which friend will be posting it on her wall as soon as she sees it

I just hate cleaning there is always better things to do!

Yes, facebook.

And I've been to their house. It's spotless. Stop it.

There is, eh?

When I was a girl our house was always spotless because of my mums endless cleaning, she never spent any time with her children and we couldn't have toys out because they were 'mess'. She was a bit of a rubbish mum to be honest.

My house is a bit of a mess but I do spend time with my children rather than tidy up. I wouldn't say I was a great mum though.

Which poem about windows? If we're judging parenting on the state of the windows then I am definitely a slob and possibly a bad Mum depending on which way you look at it...

Although looking at it through the window may be a bad idea...