The best thing you can do for your sons is to keep a messy house

So this weekend, I met with the Destination Imagination boys on Sunday and Monday. I had company on Friday morning and had cleaned the house spotlessly then and DH had a poker game on Saturday night and the guys pretty much trashed the house.

By the DI meeting on Sunday, I had barely gotten the place cleaned up enough to have the boys in. So I was not too bothered by Z making a comment about the dog hair all over the floors. Heck, it's warm. She's shedding. It happens. You have a dog? You have dog hair.

However, I did take a minute to Swiffer through the place after my meetings and errands on Monday before the boys arrived for the next DI meeting. This time, Z was unable to get himself a glass of water from the sink because there were two dirty dishes in the sink. He referred to the sink as dirty because there were two dishes in it. They weren't even very dirty.

Z obviously comes from a home where mom cleans obsessively. And his mom would probably be pretty mortified if she knew he was making comments about my home not being clean.

But it is my feeling that when you keep your home too clean, your kids *will* go to their friends houses and make comments about how dirty their houses are. It's only natural. You are setting their standards too high.

And pity Z's future wife. The poor thing will have to keep that place really clean.

Now, I know a bit of this is probably Z's personality. DH was a neat freak when I married him. He was always making comments about how dusty his mom's house was. I seem to have cured him of that because he can't see dirt in any form now.

My cure? Oh, that. I simply expected him to clean any dirt he saw. After all, we were both working. Ovaries are not cleaning agents.

So, moms. If you ever find your sons complaining about your housecleaning, do your duty for their wives and hand them a sponge or a mop. Lower their expectations. You are doing it for all women.