Children make mess.  The mess seems to generate around them like a magnetic force.  The mess spreads from room to room and creeps up on you. 

Not for one minute I am telling you that your children should not make mess, it's absolutely essential in a child's life and development.  Children who make no mess are either watching too much TV to move or planning World domination and in either case they should be stopped immediately. 

Plotting World Domintaion- (add in evil laugh), ha ha ha ha!

My advice is more of a shared wisdom, passed from my Mum to me.  When I was young I thought my Mum was nuts with her crazy cleaning habits but as a Mum myself I see the method in her madness!  The gem I pass now to you is the "Midday Scutch". 

A Midday Scutch is an event that takes places every day in our house.  About dinner time I take 15 minutes to scurry about the house doing a bit of tidying up.  Stacking toys back up, pushing books back on the shelves and sweeping up any debris scattered about.  We are not talking full on clean up, we are scutching! 

I know my family made that word up.  My family have made quite a few words up and my hubby looks at me in a slightly bemused manner with one eye brow raised high in question of his wife's sanity when I use them.  Scutch just refers to a semi clean and tidy that in the long run makes it far easier to get your house back in order once the little darlings have retired to their beds.  It's damage limitation of mess.  Your kids may also play better when they are not falling over stray toys thrown playfully into the centre of the room so it's win, win!

So embrace the mess but keep it in check, oh and drink plenty of gin after they go to bed and then any leftover mess will pale into insignificance! 

Happy scutching!