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Proof Kids Destroy Cleanliness

The 12 Reasons Why My House is a Mess Since Having Kids

You’ve probably heard this phrase a hundred or more times as a parent. If not, you’ll say it. The fact is that having children changes your life on so many levels. One of the most noticeable ones is how your home looks.

Since having children, my home has rarely stayed clean. It can feel like the house is never cleaned. No matter how much I wash, mop, or tidy, it always seems like the mess is alive.

One of my friends who didn’t have children asked me, “But why does it become so difficult to keep up with cleaning after you become a mother?” I smiled and sighed. No simple answer would do justice to this chaos. For anyone curious, here are twelve reasons why my house has been a mess ever since I had kids. I’m sure many parents will agree with these reasons and perhaps even laugh.

1. The Kitchen Floor is a Mess When You Help Mummy Do the Dishes

When did your child first say, “I want help!” with real enthusiasm? Adorable, right? What usually follows this adorable moment is a tsunami of wet footsteps, spilled soap suds, and water all over the floor.

Proof Kids Destroy Cleanliness
Proof Kids Destroy Cleanliness

My toddler helped me with the dishes, and the kitchen turned into a miniature water park. The “helping experience” includes water splashes, puddles, and wet footprints that track into the living room. It’s not about having spotless dishes, but encouraging independence and buying a good mop.

2. It’s More Fun to Bake an Imagined Cake Than a Real Cake

Baking together with your children sounds like an excellent way to build a relationship, doesn’t it? You may think so, but you’ll soon discover that they are more interested in turning your kitchen into a chocolate and flour factory.

The imaginary cake is more enjoyable in our home than the real thing. The counters are covered with flour, the eggs break (often on the floor), while the chocolate is smeared all over. What’s the best part for kids? Messing up. What is the best part of this cake for you? The best part for me is trying to save the cake and cleaning up the mess.

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3. The Floor is the Favourite Place for Children to Eat Food

Children will eat on the floor no matter how many placemats or tables you put on the table.

You can use a table that has four legs, even if it’s perfectly fine. Floors are used for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack times. Your floor becomes a minefield of crumbs, sticky patches, and spills. The good news is? Sweeping up is a great way to work your arms.

4. The Toys We Buy Are Made to be Played with, Not Stolen Away

Toys are meant to be spread out and not arranged neatly.

I’ve realized that toys are everywhere. They can be found on the floor, couch, under the tables, in the corner, and even in the refrigerator. To me, packing them up feels like punishing the toys. My children seem convinced that the messier their playroom is, the more fun they have.

Every parent faces this battle daily. What’s the good news? These messes show creativity and enjoyment.

5. It’s Normal to Change Your Clothes 15 Times in a Day

Toddlers’ outfits change frequently, and they never stay in the same place for very long.

It’s not uncommon for my toddler, who is prone to accidents and spills, as well as sudden changes of heart, to go through up to five outfits a day. Every piece of clothing that is discarded ends up draped on furniture, in corners, or piled high. Your laundry piles up and disappears like magic.

6. Why My Son’s Aim is Not Working Out for Him

Potty training boys or teaching them to use the toilet correctly is a joy. You know what I’m talking about if your son has difficulty with his aim.

Your daily cleaning routine includes the inevitable splashes and drips that will occur on your bathroom floor. It can feel like you are cleaning the bathroom more often than you use it! It is frustrating and messy, but part of the learning process.

Little Girl Playing with Tissues
Little Girl Playing with Tissues

7. The Lounge is also a Cubby House, a Rocket Ship, and a Fort

Furniture can take on many identities when you have children. Its original purpose is not one of them.

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The lounge can be transformed into a rocketship blasting into space, an underground bunker for secret meetings, or a fortress for protection against invisible dragons. Every pillow, blanket, and cushion from the house is dragged to the living room to build these epic structures.

A “herd” of toy animals, such as action figures or dinosaurs, standing guard, will make your living room look more like a theme park than a neatly organized home.

8. Because I thought Painting Would be a Fun, Calm Activity

Do you remember those Pinterest boards where adorable children are pictured quietly creating art? This is not my reality.

I thought that painting could be a great way to entertain the children. The kids, however, had a completely different idea. They painted their hands, their faces, and even their whole bodies, while I hurried to the bathroom for some quick rest.

What I had thought would be an enjoyable, calm moment turned into a full-on clean-up, complete with lots of washing and frantic scrubbing. Painting can be fun, but it is messy!

9. Why Playing with Food is More Fun than Eating it

What’s on your plate? Boring. What about food on the floor, hair, or in strange shapes? It’s much more fun.

Parents of toddlers and preschoolers know that meals often become sensory games. Toddlers enjoy squishing food, smearing it, throwing it, and rearranging the pieces. While you are trying to encourage them to eat, they will be busy turning mashed potatoes into art, spaghetti into long string decorations, or yogurt into a face mask.

Even though I would like to have a neat mealtime, it is rare. I’ve come to accept that messiness in the kitchen is part of life.

10. Because I Took a Shower and Left my Kids Unsupervised for Seven Minutes

Never leave toddlers alone for longer than 30 seconds. You may need to take a quick shower, but seven minutes can seem like an eternity.

One memorable time, I went to the bathroom to do a quick wash, but when I returned, my children had found two rolls of toilet paper. The shredded paper towel had been used to “snow” the whole bedroom. The bedroom was transformed into a winter wonderland. But it took hours to clean.

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Sometimes you need to take a risk, with hilarious and messy results.

11. It’s Impossible to Pour Juice without Spilling it (especially for children)

It may seem easy to pour juice, but it can be a difficult task for children.

The table, floor, and clothes are often soaked by the cup spills, juice splashes, and spills. Keep an eye on each pour, wipe up any puddles as quickly as possible, and have extra clothes available for the inevitable sticky mess.

It’s a fact of life that juice spills will happen. They are messy, sticky, and impossible to avoid.

12. But Most of the Time, it’s Simply Because I have Kids, no Excuses Necessary

The biggest reason why my house is a shambles is that I have kids. My life is a mess because of these tiny, chaotic, happy humans.

The laundry mountain, the crumbs, the toys scattered, the fingerprints stuck to every surface, and the sticky fingerprints all tell the story of family life, love, and growth.

What’s the truth? I wouldn’t swap this mess for a clean house.

Girl Holding a Wood Roller Playing with Flour
Girl Holding a Wood Roller Playing with Flour

A messy Home is a Sign of Happiness

You may be struggling to keep your home tidy and organized, but here’s the secret: a messy house means that life is happening. It’s a sign that your kids are learning, growing, and having fun.

A messy home can be exhausting and overwhelming, but it also captures the memories that are being made.

Next time you see a trail of toys or a spot of juice spilled in your living room, smile and take a deep breath. This mess? This mess is proof that your home is filled with love.

Conclusion

The life of a parent is chaotic and messy. It’s filled with both joy and frustration. The importance of a clean home becomes less important when you start to appreciate the small moments.

If your home looks like mine, full of toys, crumbs, a nd other signs of chaos, embrace it. Why is this mess so messy? This is the family footprint.

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