Raising Savages

Sometimes I think I may be raising savages instead of children.  It was not long ago that I posted this (http://4peanutsandacashew.blogspot.com/2012/05/part-of-me-that-cares.html) about how in order to maintain some semblance of a happy home, I had to give up on my desire for cleanliness and an undamaged house.  Indeed, lowered expectations is the key to a happy home I have found.  Well, with the kids home for the summer, things have just gotten worse.  And then just last week, I just couldn't handle the overwhelming nature of the massive amounts of work needed to just catch up, and believe me, I was trying my darndest . . . so instead of dealing with it, I left Robert with the kids for several hours.  When I came back, Robert kindly suggested that we hire someone to help during the summer so I didn't feel so overwhelmed, which was so very nice until I realized the amount of cleaning I would have to do to render the house clean enough to be cleaned by the cleaners.  Get it?  After accepting Robert's gracious offer, I spent the next 2 full days going into the places I normally try to push out of my consciousness; the kids' basement bathroom, the downstairs storage room, and certain closets that exploded their contents at me as soon as I eased their burden by opening the door.  So finally the day arrived--the day the cleaners would come.  Well, 3 hours of predicted work by 2 people turned into 5 hours, which turned into another added day of an additional 5 hours, and 2 workers turned into a much needed and hired 3rd worker.  AND THAT WAS ONLY FOR THE FIRST FLOOR.  We live in a 3 level home.  Yes, I was not exaggerating when I said things were out of control over here.  It was a little embarrassing, but I don't have much dignity left after the years of raising 5 children, so I just kept thanking them profusely.  Now that they have come and gone, I am enjoying the cleanliness, but not the added stress of keeping the house at the level they left it at.  I find that I am following around each of my children, asking, "You're going to clean that up, aren't you?"  and, "Please put that away when you are done."  And all of this leads me to wonder, "Am I raising savages?!  Children on their way to becoming animals?!"  Because that's what it feels like.  And I have now officially become the mother I never wanted to be.  Here are some more evidences I have collected that my children may becoming savages:

*The garbage can that used to exist under a certain sink a couple of years ago, is now replaced with trash without the can that the children throw in the empty cupboard, even though they can see that there is no longer a garbage can there.

*Every time one of them gets out the powdered drink, Tang (which I hate, but Robert still buys), there is a 10 foot by 4 foot radius of sticky Tang powder on the kitchen floor.  WHHHYYYY?!!

*Instead of unclogging their downstairs toilet, they just kept using it for who knows how long.  This is the bathroom I normally avoid for obvious reasons.  When I finally went down there, I spent 60 minutes cleaning just the toilet, all while dry gagging into the nearby tub.  Needless to say, these children were severely reprimanded when they got home.

*As I was cleaning out my youngest son's room, I came across BONES that he had hidden away as "souvenirs" after a dinner of BBQ ribs.

*I went to empty the bathroom garbage recently, only to find that even though the garbage can is touching the toilet, someone had poohed in the garbage can and missed the toilet.  I was so mad, I just THREW OUT the garbage can.

*Which reminds me of a coping mechanism I have adopted in order to deal with the messes.  When I get really defeated by the messes at my house, it makes me mad, and then sometimes, I just start throwing out the kids stuff.  And boy does it feel good.

*I buy a lot of food in bulk, including cake mixes and frosting.  Well, I keep finding frosting containers that are opened without a cake being made and eaten out of and NO ONE WILL FESS UP!  This morning while cornering 3 certain children and telling them they weren't leaving until someone admitted to the latest chocolate frosting being opened, Hunter exclaims after 10 minutes of adamant denial, "OHHHHH!  I thought you were asking about the vanilla frosting, not the chocolate frosting!"

The thing is, I really don't know what else I can do to teach these kids proper behavior!  Sometimes I just feel helpless and hopeless, like all of my attempts at teaching them are in vain.

Sometimes I think they all conned me into having them because of their cuteness.  Let's face it, when you have them as babies, they are always to-die-for cute, and looking at those chubby faces is just instant pay off for those sleepless nights.  You really don't know what you are getting yourself into, until it's too late and you're in waaaayy over your head.  Yep, that's me!

BUT THEN, they do something like today, where they decide to put on a play for us and it makes it all a little better and more worth it.  Today, Hunter, Elisabeth, and Ashton treated us to some break dancing, miming (of all things), and a comedic play.  It was so endearing.

How I love my little savages.

Highlights of tonight's performance:

Ashton, break dancing

wrestling match

Elisabeth and Hunter, miming

Taking a bow!