If I Tell a Boy to Put on Pants...

If you have or had small children or have read to any within the past few years, you know there is a series of books starting with, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”.  Our favorite is “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”.  It starts out with this little boy giving a moose a muffin, then the moose realizes he wants some blackberry jam, and in getting the jam, the moose wants something else and on and on it goes as you find this daggum moose now doing a puppet show, creating scenes and on and on until he goes back to wanting a muffin.  They are really cute books.  And having small children, I realize this pretty much is what it is like to live with kids.  Not much focus.  And it’s what I’m like cleaning house.  It’s a problem.
 
I start out in one room, I start folding laundry and then going into a bedroom to get a hanger, I notice a book on the floor, and while picking it up I realize we have library books that need to go back and while putting them on the counter, I notice paper that needs to be sorted through… and on and on and on.  By the end of the day, my house looks picked up, barely, in spots.  Nothing is really complete.  It’s akin to a “Jack of all trades, but Master of None” house.  I try. I really do.  I just get completely overwhelmed by all the things that constantly need to be done with three kids.  All the laundry, the paperwork, the school work, the cleaning, did I mention the laundry? 
 
I wasn’t like this when I worked for pay, in an analytical position. It’s only housework.  I’m a list maker, very task oriented, so at work, I just had a list or flowchart on how I wanted to accomplish the job and it got done.  I’m finding this is what I have to do at home. I have to actually make a list that says, “Laundry, closet, sink, etc.”  I know, it sounds juvenile, but it is so easy to get sidetracked with ALL the stuff that constantly needs tending to.  Did I mention it is all totally and completely thankless?  It makes it all the more unmotivating. 
 
And I must laugh.  Son#3, he is only 5, so this is the age where they really are all over the road.  He wakes up in the morning and after hanging out in his underwear for an hour I’ll say, “Go get some pants on!” and off he’ll scamper to get pants.  Fifteen minutes later I’ll see him, Goldfish (food) in one hand and a Star Wars light saber in the other, still running around in his underwear. Seems on his way to get pants, he saw some Goldfish, remembered he was hungry, grabbed the box, ran through the hall, saw his light saber, grabbed it up in the other, then totally forgot what he was off to do (get pants) and started sword fighting with his brothers while munching.  I can hear myself yell at him, “Focus Young Jedi!  Get your pants!”  Sometimes it can take up to two hours to get pants on this kid. At least its summer. I don’t have anything else better to do… other than housework.