What's more important, keeping a clean house, or playing with your kids?

I have tried to be a housewife for 2-3months and I couls say that both are important. You have to keep the house really clean for your baby not to get any allergies or sickness. As a mom doing all the work at home. What I usually do is, put my baby to bed and then while he is asleep i do the home chores as fast as possible. Once he is awake, I really make time to play with him till he get tired and fall asleep again. It's tiring, but just seeing my baby inspires me each day.

I would tell my mom when she used to live close by to excuse the mess. She would reply with "You have kids. No one with kids should be expected to keep an immaculate house." I fall in between at the moment. I am not rigorously cleaning every minute but my home is not a total disaster either. The housework just never ends and sometimes I just have to let the clean clothes pile up a day or two before I fold them. Or take a day break from dishes. Spending time with the kids is more important to me too.

Oh I'll take playing with my kids over housework hands down! I mean as long as there are enough clean towels and clothes and the dishwasher is done then the rest of the housework isnt goin anywhere...It can wait til at night after they've gone to bed (this is when they were younger mind you) and in the morning while they eat breakfast etc etc.... Enjoy your time with your little ones...they wont be little forever and once they hit teen yrs they wont wanna hang with mum as much ya know ;-)

well i can't really appreciate your daughter's age but here is what you could do: ask her to help you. give her small things to do or bring you. in that way you could clean the house and she will think it's just a game.... hope i helped if not sorry to bother and goodluck

when theyre still young i see to it that i can attend all their needs first before cleaning or whatever in the house...i do the cleaning if i have someone to watch for them of if they are all sleeping...i have my mom with me and shes a great help in watching them...

When my kids were little, I always cleaned when they were napping and then when they began to go to school. I found it impossible to clean when they were playing anyway. I much prefer spending time with them anyway. Now that they are teenagers, I have a great relationship with them. My house may not always be clean, but my heart is always full.

i have days that i will get in a good cleaning like once threwout the week. and also on sundays i will clean really really good. the other days i will just pick up and as needed but my house will not be spotless. so most of the time i have for the kiddos. i also have my son help me clean and put his toys and pick up after himself. it helps and it works.

I babysit my 2 year old granddaughter everyday and understand your concern greatly, she keeps me so busy during the day I barely have time to make my bed cause I spend the entire day playing with her and not having an opportunity to clean, although I do require that she takes a nap and when she does I try to get any housework done for those 2.5 hours I can, the rest can wait until she is not around cause it is more important to play with the children than clean, but we do need to work on keeping a clean environment for them to play in so we do need at some point to take the time out from playing with them to get this done.

I'm a SAHM and I feel the same way. I try to keep up with things like laundry, dishes & cooking, and do some extra deeper cleaning as I'm able. But when DS is awake I don't have any problem stopping to play with him. There will always be time to tidy up. He won't want to play with me forever though. :(

i feel your pain! i have two girls, a 4yr old and 2 yr old and i'm 6 months pregnant with my 3rd (its a boy!) to a point i let things go, if i were to clean the living room, 10 min later all the toys i cleaned up would be right back in the livingroom. we have a dishwasher which helps as far as the kitchen goes but the sinks still fills up fast. i agree with you though, i would rather have my house a little cluttered then be after my kids all the time to clean up and have to tell them that i can't come play with them because i have to do laundry first or something else. is your daughter old enough to help? as strange as it is mine find it fun to help me fold the laundry or even unload/load the dishwashe.

I remember how obsessive my mother was with keeping the house spotless--never wanting to see a mess or dust. With me, I feel that if I keep the dishes clean, laundry done, trash emptied and all the other basics, that I am doing fine. I spend more time wiht the kids--my oldest daughter constantly 'make ups' me and she loves it. My baby daugher knows mommy will stop to give hugs and kisses and play peekaboo. My oldest knows that I will sit down and talk or play card with him. I can't remember my mother doing any of those thigns (but wish she would have). I have a motto--I don't worry about dust. Why? It doesn't worry about me, EVER. The dust will be there still once the kids grow up and I don't want them growing up with out me.

Well, I'd personally say that you'd want to keep things clean. You should spend the quality time with your child, but put a little time aside for the cleaning as well until your child can chip in a little bit themself. Kid's learn by example when they're young, and she sees you letting things go, then she'll likely pick up the habit along the way.

When my children were young I read somewhere that the housework could wait and to enjoy the children. I think I took this to heart a bit too much but have a great husband that helps a lot. My children are now teenagers and we all get along very well. So the house was clean enough that we did not get ill but we had precious time together. Now I can keep the house tidy (not that I really want to now) and am looking forward to grandchildren (although not too soon).

I think if your house is to clean then you are neglecting something else. And in you case that would be the children. there is a diferents between clean and over doing it clean. If at the end of the day things don't look to bad then you have accomplished another day.

Well I don't have a kid but Ihave alot of nephew and niece. Whenever we are left in the house I always tell them to clean there own mess and always see how clean the area befor they come in and leave it clean too. I strongly feel that having a quality time with your kids is more importnat cause time cannot turn back and those housechores can do by some maid once in a while.

I let it go, Kids grow up so fast, I get them involved when I really need to get something done, One of my Daughter loves to sweep ( now granted she make more of a mess but she tries) and my little man loves nothing more than filling or emptying the washing machine or dryer.

Why not turn cleaning into a game for the kids. That way THEY can clean, and you can play with them at the same time. Or you could just make it a game for them, and not clean yourself. Part of having children is putting them to work for you while you can, right? They cost you a lot of money, and they should work to help pay it off!

Playing with your kids. But at the same time, you can use the cleaning to teach them responsibility. Wow, what a grown-up sentiment. I amaze myself. But in reality, I detest housework and the kids are a great excuse not to do it! My aunt always had a saying, though, that went like this: "Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tommorow, for babies grow up, I've learned to my sorrow; So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep; I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep". She'd tell me that any time I got frustrated with trying to do it all.

playing with the kids is more important than cleaning the house. The child's happiness is more imporatant than anything. U can always employ some one to do that or you can do it when ur husband returns.

Well I am a father and me and my wife are constantly cleaning house. Cause they play so much and are so active, so to me they go hand in hand. I think it is important to keep your house clean at all times, so your kids can feel comfortable to play. I show them alot of attention, but they really don't need me and my wife too much to have fun cause they have each other. So both are important to me, but cleaning would be the most important.