Mixing Home and Family with Daycare

[DancingQueen]

I'm struggling with this. Example. My bathroom is a mess every morning when my family finally leaves for the day and I'm left with daycare kids.

the bathroom is only ONE area of frustration - but it is a good example.

I can't clean my bathroom while doing daycare.
I have not had to worry too much about this in the past because none of the kids use my bathroom except for my own dd. None are potty trained and we wash hands in the kitchen.

But Monday i have a 4 year old boy starting who is potty trained and I can't have my bathroom looking the way it does.

another example is my kid's bedrooms. They were approved for daycare use. But they are not used at all during the daytime. The only reason we use those rooms is for nap time. But I still can't have the kids rooms looking the way they do. If I were to be spot inspected yesterday I would have been in deep poo!

I'm so tired of lecturing and fighting and going over this over and over again. How do you manage?

[kendallina]

I really have no answers for you, but I can sympathize with what you're saying.

When the daycare kids leave, I clean immediately, but then husband comes home and my daughter is here and they create a mess all night and I have to clean their mess before bed too. Fortunately, my DH is pretty good and will help pick-up when I ask him too (but he never just does it without me asking).

Another issue I had this week was my family's toothbrushes...what does everyone do with theirs? I had a two-year old boy put DH's in his mouth the other day! Urgh... I don't really want to leave them in a drawer, which seems gross to me.

Sorry, I have no answers...I'm sure other people have better suggestions.

[Luna]

I'm struggling with this. Example. My bathroom is a mess every morning when my family finally leaves for the day and I'm left with daycare kids.

the bathroom is only ONE area of frustration - but it is a good example.

I can't clean my bathroom while doing daycare.
I have not had to worry too much about this in the past because none of the kids use my bathroom except for my own dd. None are potty trained and we wash hands in the kitchen.

But Monday i have a 4 year old boy starting who is potty trained and I can't have my bathroom looking the way it does.

another example is my kid's bedrooms. They were approved for daycare use. But they are not used at all during the daytime. The only reason we use those rooms is for nap time. But I still can't have the kids rooms looking the way they do. If I were to be spot inspected yesterday I would have been in deep poo!

I'm so tired of lecturing and fighting and going over this over and over again. How do you manage?

Hi, I'm new here and I have read so much good advice on these pages

I have 3 dcks who use the potty so maybe I can offer a couple of suggestions for the bathroom. The bathroom the kids use is kept as clutter-free as possible because I must clean after every use. I keep a spray bottle of bleach solution and a roll of paper towels on the top shelf of the closet (anywhere out of reach will work) and I spray & wipe the toilet while they are washing their hands, then I do the sink & countertop while they are drying their hands. There are no nicknacks around so I can do this as quickly as possible. Our toothbrushes are kept inside the medicine cabinet out of reach. Hand towels are under the sink & the kids each get themselves a fresh one each day and they hang them up on the back of the door.

I hope this is at least a little helpful!

[DancingQueen]

yeah I try to clean as day care is wrapping up at the end of the day. But i have FOUR kids and a husband and an english mastiff dog.
I usually clean in the morning before everyone is up - but then they cyclone through the house again in the morning <sigh>

[DaycareMama]

Another issue I had this week was my family's toothbrushes...what does everyone do with theirs? I had a two-year old boy put DH's in his mouth the other day! Urgh... I don't really want to leave them in a drawer, which seems gross to me.

This made me smile. We go through this here and one day I was using the bathroom myself and looking around and I saw my sons tooth brush above the door sitting on the molding. I asked him why it was there and he told me he was grossed out thinking the kids were messing with it. I have to agree but it did catch me off guard.

Maybe you can put a little shelf like those small decorative corner shelfs up just big enough to hold a tooth brush cup. Put it high enough out of the kids reach?

[legomom922]

Ok, I have a question... Why is your family leaving you with such a mess to clean up? I feel you have to get your husband and family to start cleaning up after themselves. You are NOT their maid! I have acyually assigned chores to all of my family members including my husband. I cook, he clean up after supper. Kids clean their room daily and do NOT leave the house in the am without making their beds, they take out the trash, etc. Everybody pulls their own load. I figure everybody in my family benefit from my job and my income, so the least they can do is HELP keep this home clean! They do get an allowance, but if something is not done, they lose their allowance. I am VERY strict when it comes to the cleanliness of my home, and no one escapes from it. Get strict and get your family to start helping you!!

[SandeeAR]

Ok, I have a question... Why is your family leaving you with such a mess to clean up? I feel you have to get your husband and family to start cleaning up after themselves. You are NOT their maid! I have acyually assigned chores to all of my family members including my husband. I cook, he clean up after supper. Kids clean their room daily and do NOT leave the house in the am without making their beds, they take out the trash, etc. Everybody pulls their own load. I figure everybody in my family benefit from my job and my income, so the least they can do is HELP keep this home clean! They do get an allowance, but if something is not done, they lose their allowance. I am VERY strict when it comes to the cleanliness of my home, and no one escapes from it. Get strict and get your family to start helping you!!

AMEN! I was wondering the same thing as I read this thread LOL. Even when I was a SAHM and did not have any other outside job, my kids did chores! My DH even helped some. His job was outside the house, but MY job was raising our children. The house was everyone that lived there's job.

[MarinaVanessa]

With some time and some training I have my family on board with keeping the daycare portion of the house clean. I live with my fiance, his two brothers and my daughter and keeping every room clean was awful. I just about gave up with having to keep telling everyone every day that they had to clean up after themselves until I took drastic measures.

For the upstairs bathroom I went to target and bought toothbrush covers for everybody's toothbrush and took everything out of the drawers and put it all in a box. I assigned a small drawer for myself, my fiance and one for each of his brothers and told everyone to go through the box and get their stuff out by the end of the day or whatever was left was going in the trash. They had the drawer to put their stuff in and anything else that did not fit in their drawers they had to keep in their rooms. I also told them that if something got left out on the counter it all ends up in a box in the garage. They also know that if things like contact lense solution, cologne (stuff that licensing doesn't allow out) and I got fined that they were paying it (yes it got that bad).

I do the same with my daughter. She's 5 and she knows that if a toy gets left on the floor in her room after she leaves to school I'm taking it and it's going in the trunk of my car. People got tired of hunting for their stuff in the garage and eventually got the point. I had several arguments with my fiance about my "new process" but I just kept repeating "Don't leave your stuff out and it won't end up in the garage. Now the only thing I need to do in the AMs is quickly wipe down counters if they splashed etc.

Not saying you have to do this or anything, just saying sometimes you have to get a little creative.

[Michael]

Hi, I'm new here and I have read so much good advice on these pages

I have 3 dcks who use the potty so maybe I can offer a couple of suggestions for the bathroom. The bathroom the kids use is kept as clutter-free as possible because I must clean after every use. I keep a spray bottle of bleach solution and a roll of paper towels on the top shelf of the closet (anywhere out of reach will work) and I spray & wipe the toilet while they are washing their hands, then I do the sink & countertop while they are drying their hands. There are no nicknacks around so I can do this as quickly as possible. Our toothbrushes are kept inside the medicine cabinet out of reach. Hand towels are under the sink & the kids each get themselves a fresh one each day and they hang them up on the back of the door.

I hope this is at least a little helpful!

Hi Luna, Welcome to the Daycare.com Forum! PM me if you need any help.

Michael
Admin

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

go to campingworld.com look for pop a toothbrush,.. I have them in my medicine cabinet, they flip closed,..

[SilverSabre25]

Hi, I'm new here and I have read so much good advice on these pages

I have 3 dcks who use the potty so maybe I can offer a couple of suggestions for the bathroom. The bathroom the kids use is kept as clutter-free as possible because I must clean after every use. I keep a spray bottle of bleach solution and a roll of paper towels on the top shelf of the closet (anywhere out of reach will work) and I spray & wipe the toilet while they are washing their hands, then I do the sink & countertop while they are drying their hands. There are no nicknacks around so I can do this as quickly as possible. Our toothbrushes are kept inside the medicine cabinet out of reach. Hand towels are under the sink & the kids each get themselves a fresh one each day and they hang them up on the back of the door.

I hope this is at least a little helpful!

Ugh...after every single time ANY child uses the toilet, or just after each time you all use the toilet? That seems so over the top either way.

Not to criticize you or anything, I'm just shuddering at the thought of having to clean the bathroom that much!

[Unregistered]

Yes, that's every time anyone uses the bathroom. These kids are just learning to use the potty, and not to get too graphic, but they sort of slide themselves off of there...let's just say I wouldn't want to use it after them if it hasn't been cleaned. I think some days I clean that bathroom 20 times! I just can't bring myself to not clean it after use.

[DancingQueen]

This makes me smile because anyone that knows me thinks I'm so amazingly strict and hard on my kids when it comes to chores and helping out.

Yet it is still an issue. The biggest problem being the mornings. They either don't have time to clean up too much or they just don't clean thoroughly enough.

So when my husband asks if he can do anything for me before he leaves and I ask him to sweep the kitchen for me. He does and leaves - I can go and sweep it again and end up with another big pile of dirt! It is infuriating that everything gets done - but just not good enough.

[Lucy]

I'm sorry, but what ever happened to making your husband and kids accountable for their own messes? No offense, but we're not their maids. Make your kids leave the bathroom in the condition in which they found it. Certainly your husband ought to be able to do this. That's how I was raised. You don't leave behind a mess and expect that someone else will clean it up. It's respect for Mom.

[marniewon]

I'm sorry, but what ever happened to making your husband and kids accountable for their own messes? No offense, but we're not their maids. Make your kids leave the bathroom in the condition in which they found it. Certainly your husband ought to be able to do this. That's how I was raised. You don't leave behind a mess and expect that someone else will clean it up. It's respect for Mom.

I agree. And, if kids don't have time to do the job right, maybe they need to get up a few minutes earlier. Or maybe a lot earlier. I'm not trying to be mean or rude, but I find that kids will live up to the expectations that we set. If we expect and demand compliance, they will do it, no matter what it takes to get it done (getting up earlier). Getting up earlier might be enough to get the job done (punishment) but if they still aren't getting it done, and they are getting up earlier and earlier, maybe their tv/computer/game time (whatever they cherish the most) needs to be replaced with cleaning. A few times of that and I guarantee they will make more of an effort in the morning

Just my 2 cents