How to enjoy your children while they're young, while not letting them render your home condemned.

I'm running into a constant struggle in my home lately. My children are 7 and 8 years old, a boy and a girl. I have a chronic illness which means I work from home and I'm very fortunate to do so. My children are generally wonderful caring human beings. I spend my limited energy constantly ordering them to pick up their things, I try not to do it for them if I can help it. I've taken away all of their belongings in an effort to learn to keep a smaller amount of things clean, and add things back as they are ready. (Just something I tried in the past that didn't work) They were okay with this because they know they have a problem and also find themselves overwhelmed. Beyond the energy spent there, I do a lot of the normal cleaning. My husband helps a lot too. I use my breaks and lunches to clean the house as well. Every time I go into a room I make it a point to leave it better than how I found it, so later on it's not such a mountain of work. By the time I end my day I'm exhausted with no energy to entertain, or hang out with my kids in the way I want to. I'm constantly torn between being mad at them that they destroy everything in their path, and feeling guilty that I'm not able to maintain my cool, smile and be a good mom. It's one of my greatest fears to mess up these young years of their life. We have a routine, they are held responsible. They are given consequences. It's almost like their brains are wired to not be able to comprehend what it means to not wreck the house. When I bust my behind all day working and cleaning and being a mom. And sit down for an hour only to get up and see it all destroyed again it destroys me inside. My energy is limited, I don't get it back the same as other people. I go to bed defeated and sad and it's not for lack of trying. I'm getting depressed and that certainly doesn't help anything. If I just "relax" on the cleaning, it's not just dirty it's gross. I hope this makes sense. I'm just breaking and want to get it together and make our lives better. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2ej8NuX