{"id":11677,"date":"2012-03-20T12:16:54","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T19:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/momservations.wordpress.com\/?p=11677"},"modified":"2012-03-20T12:16:54","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T19:16:54","slug":"why-not-to-spring-clean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/momservations.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/20\/why-not-to-spring-clean\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Not to Spring Clean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Momservation: <\/strong>If the Lord had meant for us to do spring cleaning, He wouldn\u2019t have given us closets.<\/p>\n

\u263a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u263a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u263a<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first full day of spring and I\u2019ll tell you what I\u2019m not <\/strong>going to do:<\/p>\n

Spring cleaning.<\/p>\n

Why should I when I can still reap the benefits of Out of Sight Out of Mind that a closet door affords me? I may be barely able to shut a few of them, but that\u2019s nothing that a DO NOT OPEN sticker can\u2019t handle.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a decorative tile prominently displayed in my home that declares a personal philosophy that I long ago adopted:<\/p>\n

Good mothers have dirty floors and sticky ovens, but happy children.\u00a0<\/strong>\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I think I need to etch on there \u2013 and closets stuffed full of disorganized crap.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve long banked on the fact that my kids are going to remember the days when we dropped everything to go fly a kite, check out if there\u2019re butterflies at the river yet, or rode our bikes to see the rainbow of tulips our neighbor plants every year, over whether Mommy kept a wicked clean and organized closet. They are not going to care if my blinds and ceiling fans were dust free. It won\u2019t bother them that I have expired canned goods, stale crackers and cookies, and never used spices in my pantry.<\/p>\n

When they one day have kids of their own and are reflecting back on what to bring to the table from their own childhood, I hope it\u2019s the belief that these moments are precious and clean closets can wait.<\/p>\n

To an extent. I certainly don\u2019t want us to end up on an episode of Hoarders<\/a> or Clean House with Niecy Nash.<\/a><\/p>\n

But the first day or the first weekend of spring should be celebrated by going out and playing with your kids, not cleaning house. Try some from this list:<\/p>\n

Things to do with Your Kids Instead of Spring Cleaning<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Plant a strawberry garden to harvest in the summer.<\/li>\n
  2. Look for lady bugs and caterpillars in the tall, green grasses.<\/li>\n
  3. Skip rocks at the river, pond, or lake.<\/li>\n
  4. Ride bikes to go get Slurpees at the local 7-Eleven or gas station convenience store.<\/li>\n
  5. Fly a kite.<\/li>\n
  6. Go on a neighborhood scavenger hunt for blooming flowers to press between book pages.<\/li>\n
  7. Go cheer on a local baseball or softball game that your kid isn\u2019t playing in. Make sure to stop by the snack shack.<\/li>\n
  8. Play Frisbee.<\/li>\n
  9. Go to a local park and play Hot Lava Monster with them on the playground equipment (or whatever else their imagination invents).<\/li>\n
  10. Try to watercolor the sunset.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here\u2019s to a layer of dust on top of your hutch so thick you can make dustmen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For the first full day of spring try something from the list of THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR KIDS INSTEAD OF SPRING CLEANING<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[679,680,2,681,682,86,3,5,28,683,684,685,686,687],"class_list":["post-11677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting-humor-2","tag-cheap-things-to-do-with-kids","tag-clean-house","tag-family","tag-fun-things-to-do-with-kids","tag-hoarders","tag-kelli-wheeler","tag-kids","tag-momservations","tag-parenting-humor","tag-slurpees","tag-spring-cleaning","tag-things-to-do-with-kids-in-the-spring","tag-things-to-do-with-kids-instead-of-spring-cleaning","tag-why-not-to-spring-clean"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Not to Spring Clean - Kelli M. 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