If you insist upon keeping an 'eat off the floor' sparkling clean, it can be costing your family big time in three ways.
Please let me explain first that with six children, one of our early parenting decisions was that it was more important for us to raise a relaxed and happy tribe, than worry about maintaining a fancy' don't touch' home.
Over the years the kids were allowed to ride their tricycles and skateboards up and down the hallways (it's wide). If a chair fell back into the wall and one or the other got nicked, Steve was wonderful and just fixed it instead of making huge dramas. Toys weren't always 100 per cent put away. Naturally this eliminated a lot of potential stress for them and for us.
You may think this is not the way you want to live, but first let's look at two important considerations.
First, stress. The extra amount placed on yourself, your partner and the children. With so many stress points today - money, work, time, things that are important - does it matter if something is dusty? What would really happen in the scheme of life if cleaning was spread out a bit more? Weeding the garden done biweekly instead of weekly?