Fun With A Vacuum Cleaner

I'm a bad Mom.

OK, rephrase: you know everyone is ready for "get the bleep out of here and go back to school already" when chasing your children and pretending to suck them up with the vacuum cleaner is insanely funny to all involved. I think I had as much fun as they did.

One of the many upsides is that the children are now as dust free as the carpet.

My Issue With Futility

Enough said. Do I really have to continue with the rest of the post?

Ok fine. Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Why I clean my house and expect it to stay that way must therefor be a sad sign of the state of my sanity.

Realistically, while you're dragging the vacuum cleaner across the carpet, aren't you thinking "ahh, now it's clean"? I know when I scrub the toilet, the little voice in my head is saying "take that, germs! Ha!". Every single time. And yet it never stays clean.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not suggesting that we never clean. But geez...

It could be worse. At least now my kids run for the nearest couch to get off the floor when they hear the vacuum start. My four year old son even puts the chairs up on the snack table for me.

Sometimes he does this even before I get the vacuum out. I'm not sure what he's trying to tell me...

Kids and Asthma

Thank you, Dr. Rhonda Low, for pointing out that too clean isn't always better. I'm referring to her story about rising asthma rates in kids, and how under utilized immune systems (created from over clean environments) can overreact to benign things such as dust and pests.

Ah ha! Finally. My not vacuuming daily has been vindicated. OK so I'm a bit of a germaphobe with the kitchen counters and the toilets, but the carpets are lucky if they see the vacuum cleaner more than 2 or 3 times per week. Wahoo!!! Hey maybe I should do less laundry too. Hmmm. This theory definitely has potential. Hey, it's good for the kids, right?