Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To upset my parents by asking them to clean their filthy house

129 replies

Oysterbabe · 13/09/2016 17:18

My parents are lovely people but they live in squalor and always have. The house is full of animals; several cats, an enormous long-haired dog, parrots flying free range and that's just in the house. In the paddock they have all manner of creatures. There is grime and dirt everywhere. Everyone wears their shoes inside as if they didn't their socks would be black within minutes from the dirt on the floor. It was always like this when I was growing up and I thought it was pretty normal until I moved away at 18 and realised no one else lived in a house like this. Until recent years they've been healthy and able-bodied. My dad had a stroke a couple of years ago so is a bit more sedentary now but it's no worse than usual. They could afford a cleaner if they wanted one.

Anyway it was never a massive deal, just how they choose to live. A bit embarrassing taking my now husband there for the first time but meh, whatever. They live 200 miles away and we only visit a few times a year. They live in a very rural location, there are no hotels nearby so we just stay there and put up with it.

We now have an 8 month DD. Last time we took her she was 3 months old and we just held her the whole time and insisted that the massive, untrained dog was always shut away and the birds caged. We're visiting again in a couple of months and DD will almost certainly be crawling by then. Even now she doesn't really like being held and likes sitting on the floor surrounded by toys. I don't know how we'll keep her off the floor for 3 days.

The main problem is that DM doesn't think the house is dirty, will be incredibly offended at the suggestion that it is and will certainly cry. I have tried to gently suggest the place could do with a bit of a clean in the past and it did not go well. I can't stand the idea of upsetting her like that Sad But I genuinely believe DD could be at risk crawling around there. They come straight in from walking around in shit in the paddock and shoes stay on. How can I raise this in the most sensitive way?

OP posts:
JellyBeansHaveNoAgeLimit · 13/09/2016 17:33

This sounds exactly like my dad's house. We've been there twice in the four years ds has been alive because it's just so filthy Sad

There really is no nice way of saying it so I guess it's either upsetting your parents or bring a travel cot for dd to play in and spend lots of time out of the house?

Arfarfanarf · 13/09/2016 17:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FasterThanASnakeAndAMongoose · 13/09/2016 17:38

I've heard that about bird poo too. Boak.

Fannyupcrutch · 13/09/2016 17:40

Yes, bird poo can be VERY damaging to your health. Birds can carry all manner of zoonotic germs and bugs that can pass to people, salmonella being the first oen that comes to mind. I have two macaws in my living room. Not just the poo but the dander they produce is a very potent allergen in many people.

yeOldeTrout · 13/09/2016 17:44

They are not going to change, you know they are set in their ways. They probably won't even understand the standard of cleanliness you want to want. So either you clean it yourself or just don't go there more than briefly with baby. Even if you have a travelcot, that's only useful for max 1 hour with an awake mobile baby.

I think I'd stay in a hotel & just visit briefly in their home with the baby. Meet up at a park or a nice venue for potential longer visits.

timelytess · 13/09/2016 17:46

Don't take the baby to their home at all. You can meet up with them elsewhere.

Thinkingblonde · 13/09/2016 17:46

That is true about bird poo, they also give off a fine powdery substance called dander, it covers everything in a fine white powder, it comes from the birds feathers. When We had a parrot I was forever cleaning the stuff up. We had to regime the parrot as it was causing breathing problems with a member of the family. It was the dander that caused it.

Thinkingblonde · 13/09/2016 17:47

*Rehome.

JaniceBattersby · 13/09/2016 17:47

I wouldn't stay with them. My house is not a show home. In fact it's sometimes a pigsty as I have three children under 6. It's not a health hazard though and I wouldn't put my kids at risk. It would be the animal shit that would tip the balance for me. I just couldn't do it.

Can't they come and stay with you?

RainyDayBear · 13/09/2016 17:49

No advice really, I have a very similar situation with my Mums house - DD has been there once in seven months, and that was when she was very small and in her car seat. But she lives close so less of an issue. I haven't said anything because I know she'll get upset. Can you phrase it from more of a "I know you'd never forgive yourselves if DD became poorly" type angle? Alternatively play may / hotel / trips out are all good suggestions above.

NapQueen · 13/09/2016 17:50

Sounds like that's just the way they are.

Encourage one room to keep animal free and relatively clean or stay in a hotel and meet places for day trips.

Goingtobeawesome · 13/09/2016 17:51

The OP said there are no hotels.

yeOldeTrout · 13/09/2016 17:52

if no hotels... a tent!? Caravan? self-catering? Must be summat within 1 hour drive.

rookiemere · 13/09/2016 17:52

I'd just be straight up and tell them you can't stay there the way it is. Price up a local company to do a deep clean - say that you'll pay for it, or just meet up elsewhere.

If you ask them to clean the house without a way for it to happen, it won't happen.

PacificDogwod · 13/09/2016 17:53

All animals (and humans! Grin) create dander - it is simply dead skin cells that fall off, in the case of animals/birds usually covered in their saliva from grooming.
Bird poo can indeed be a rather infectious inhaled problem, also highly allergenic.

Much as I don't think that growing up in a house like you are describing will usually cause a problem as an immune system simply adjusts to its surroundings (well, most of the time, it can of course go wrong), I would have concerns about putting a crawling child that is likely to mouth its own hands/things in to an environment like that when it is used to much cleaner living quarters.

Sorry, Oysterbabe*, I think you are in a difficult situation, but agree with PP this is a difficult conversation you will have to have with your DM. And accept that she is very likely to be upset by it - painful, but IMO necessary.

Could you meet on 'neutral' ground?
Rent a holiday cottage nearby, have a holiday together? Would your Parents be able to find somebody who would care for their menagerie for a few days?
Could they visit you at yours?

Playpen/blanket on the floor is not a bad idea, but only as long as your DD is not mobile and it does nothing about airborne dirt/allergens/germs.

I cannot believe I am writing this - I am usually relaxed about dirt to the point of negligence - but this animal poo thrown in to the mix is a step too far even for me.

VanillaSugarandChristmasSpice · 13/09/2016 17:55

My MIL tried to clean her house but she is a mega hoarder (you go into the bedroom, put your suitcase down on the floor, go out to the loo and come back in and you can't find the suitcase )....

Wet wipes wet wipes, wet wipes. That's all I can say. Try to keep toys on a blanket and stay with them for one night only. Stay in a hotel 50 miles away so that you can arrive at 10 am, stay one night, leave at 6pm and stay in the same hotel. Your parents get 2 days of you but only one night of dog hair.

SheldonsSpot · 13/09/2016 17:57

Do the cats not attack the parrots that are flying around?

I wouldn't take my child there, not even with picnic blankets or playpens - I'd have to bin them when I left.

OneEpisode · 13/09/2016 17:57

There must be a hotel? And meet in the day.

Older parent here, with older gps who used playpens. I suspect small dcs that aren't used to them don't like playpens unless the good stuff (that means mum and dad usually) is in the playpen with them.

Aoibhe · 13/09/2016 17:57

Could you say that you're concerned about allergies? It would be kinder than saying that the house is too filthy for your dd.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 13/09/2016 17:58

Agree with LineyReborn. They are your parents, they've always lived like this. You've lived like this too as a young child - and no harm has befallen you.

Put it in perspective and get a play mat/playpen if that will make your time there less stressful.

I love the sound of the free-range parrots though! Grin

EweAreHere · 13/09/2016 17:59

Honestly, I wouldn't visit them at their home. I just wouldn't.

I think you have to say something. Certainly your DD's health and well-being trumps hurt feelings. Especially since they really do have to know deep down that how they're living is rather gross. Be firm. Offer to find and send in a cleaning team before your arrival, if you think that would help. But be firm.

PortiaCastis · 13/09/2016 17:59

You are still alive

ImperialBlether · 13/09/2016 18:04

She doesn't live there, Portia.

happypoobum · 13/09/2016 18:04

If you really can't face telling them ( I would) then you will have to say something like "Now that DD is mobile, your house isn't really toddler friendly, so we are staying at X B&B/hotel"

There must be somewhere you can stay within 45 minutes, nowhere in the UK is that bloody remote and all the lovely remote places have B&Bs don't they?

PacificDogwod · 13/09/2016 18:04

I think a deep clean done by a commercial company for a house that has been neglected for years/decades would be very expensive and disruptive and likely upsetting for the inhabitants seeing that it is not something they have initiated.

On reflection, I think I'd only visit agin when DD can walk Confused

Swipe left for the next trending thread