The Usefulness of Setting a Low Benchmark for Cleaning

This may sound like a surprising title for a cleaning service blog-post but there is certainly truth in it. It applies particularly to many parents though, speaking as a non-parent, many of the same reasons apply simply to busy persons as well.

In a home with kids, time is often at a premium and particularly since kids often lek ave a whirlwind in their wake it simply makes sense that one would adopt a certain amount of tolerance for mess and dirtiness.

But there are issues to think about.  One is health. This relates, for one, to the difference between messiness and dirtiness. Messiness can certainly impinge on one’s mood or even convey to occupants of a home that life is out of control. There are reasons to limit messiness. But it doesn’t necessarily impact us much in terms of the physical aspect of health.

There is also the difference between unhealthy dirtiness and… less unhealthy dirtiness. Certainly out of control kitchens and bathrooms, where the most germs collect, are in the first category. Crayon marks on walls would be in the second.

Perhaps the biggest issue has to do with setting standards as part of the raising of children itself. Do you simply let creativity flourish and encourage your kids to move on to the next creative project or do you train your kids to value order by having them clean up after themselves after each project? Or maybe in an ideal world you would like to but that just isn’t going to happen! I have no answer to this but it can be helpful to consider what your value set is around this question.