One mum on why you should stop cleaning up after your kids

Mummy blogger and writer, Heidi Hamm, likes to keep everything in order. But with three children and a busy schedule, she found herself most nights tidying up their play room after they have gone to bed.

“For years I would spend a few minutes every night, cleaning up after my kids. I would hate to calculate just how many hours of my life have been spent picking up toys. A heck of a lot. Too many.  I love a clean house. I do. It's the one thing in my life that I feel like I have complete control over. If my environment is organised, life is just, better.” 

Until one day, one question her husband asked her changed her perception on her need to clean. She posted on Her View from the House, telling her story.

"One night my husband found me on my hands and knees, colour coordinating the Lego. Did I mention I like things organised? I was exhausted. Which is a common state for me.

"'Why don't you just shut the door?'" he asked. 

"I stared up at him. It's possible it was more of a glare. I had been expecting him to join me on the floor, sifting through the mountain of Lego. Instead he offered me those seven words. 

"Apparently It was all I needed.  I got up and closed the door.”

Now Hamm enforces a dedicated time once a week for the children to clean their playroom. She then goes on to discuss the importance of self-care for parents.

“These days everybody is talking about how self care is so important when you're a parent. And it is. It's so easy to lose yourself in taking care of everyone else. But self care? Yeah, it’s not so easy. It takes time, and energy and asking for help.” 

She says that a messy playroom is something she’s come to live with.

“So now? In addition to their daily chores, the kids clean the play room once a week. Not me. Them. The other 95% of the time? It looks like this. And that's okay. Because this shut door in my life? Is one that I can live with.”

Hamm has been praised for her honesty and her message of embracing self-care, with other mums approving her attitude towards "shutting the door." 

Sometimes you just need to walk away from the mess!