How Clean Is Your House - I Don't Care!

Hello, my name is Lynn and I'm a neat freak. It's likely that if you arranged to come and visit me the carpets would be freshly hoovered, the kitchen floor would be mopped, glass would be cleaned and cushions would be plumped. It's just what I do.

Yet I'm annoyed. I recently read a blog where someone suggested they could never be friends with someone like me, a mum with a tidy house (apologies - I couldn't actually remember who wrote that original blog post). I've read posts on Facebook too, berating people (especially mums) for having a clean and tidy home. Apparently if I take time to tidy my house I'm missing spending quality time with my child. Apparently I'm not fun.

I know it's daft, but statements and blogs like this make me feel I have to justify myself. So I'm going to. First of all, I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting your home to be nice. That's all I want. A nice environment to live in for my child, and for me. However, to say I prioritise housework over the care of my child is utter nonsense. Every single day my daughter and I read, draw, paint, bake, dance, visit the park, sing, play with toys, play hide and seek. You name it, we do it. Where possible, I plan my cleaning around my daughter. So if she is napping or having a snack or after she's gone to bed you will most likely find me completing a household task. Sometimes when that's not possible we'll do some housework together. Holly loves to help me with the washing and think it's a great way to help teach her colours too! She also loves to help me dust and often asks to do it without any prompting. I think it's good to get her involved in housework now because when she is older she will be expected to do housework to earn her pocket money. Doesn't sound like such a bad thing really does it?

For the record though, even though I have a tidy house most of the time it does get messy with a toddler. Of course it does. How could it not? You'll find every floor strewn with toys. EVERY DAY. You just won't find dishes in the sink or cobwebs in the corners. Then when it's Holly's bedtime the toys disappear. They are stored away. I like to turn my house into a nice adult place to relax in the evenings. Again, I don't see what's so awful about this?

There is some suggestion that because I have a tidy house I judge others who don't. I think that's really what the whole thing boils down to. Well I can honestly tell you I don't. Not at all. You're not me, and I'm not you. I've always been a neat freak, I've always been fastidious. Just because I became a mum that was never going to change. It's part of my personality, a trait ingrained in me. I do it because I want to, but that doesn't mean I expect anyone else to. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so, but it's part of what makes me, ME. It genuinely upsets me that someone would judge me for having a tidy house. Judge me as not worthy of their friendship. Would dismiss me, without knowing anything more about me than the state of my home. I would never do that to someone else. Reduce a person to one part of their life*. It's narrow minded and I most certainly think that is far worse than than being either messy or tidy!



*Well unless they were something hideous like a serial killer in their free time.

Review - Dreambaby Chelsea Swing Closed Safety Gate

It's safe to say that Holly is a very active toddler. Having taking her first steps at just 9 months to being a fully confident walker who would happily attempt walking upstairs at 10 months I am sure you can imagine that now she is 22 months she is into everything in the house. I literally cannot turn my back for a second!  She climbs anything and everything and has recently learned to jump from high objects too! It's definitely a scary time.

As you can imagine we have quite a lot of safety equipment in our house to keep Holly as safe as possibly. Up until now though we have only had one baby gate, which is fitted at the top of our stairs.   We never really needed a gate at the bottom of the stairs as we were simply able to keep the kitchen and lounge doors closed in order to keep Holly away from that area. However, due to a recent grotwth spurt Holly is now tall enough to finally reach the door handles (she has been trying to reach them for a long time) and can easily open all the doors now! So although Holly is easily able to use the stairs now I still don't feel it will be safe to let her near the stairs unattended! We really needed to find good gate for the bottom of the stairway as soon as possible.

I was therefore delighted when Tesco Compare home insurance offered me the opportunity to review a new baby gate!

The gate I received was the Dreambaby Chelsea Swing Closed Safety Gate.  I had already seen this product when browsing online for safety gates before and had really liked the features and design of this gate. Some of the features I liked best about the gate were:

• Pressure mounted. This made it very easy to put up (& to take down when the time comes). Also no drilling into my walls or woodwork! So no mess!
• 2 way opening and swing shut mechanism. This means you don't have to worry about forgetting to close the gate. It will close automatically once you have stepped through.
• It has a double locking mechanism (at the top and bottom) so it is very secure!
• Easy one handed opening for adults.

I will admit at first that I was unsure if a pressure fit gate would be sturdy enough. However I can say that once it was in place I can safely say it was extremely secure and just as secure as our other gate which is screw mounted to the walls. Also, fitting was extremely quick and the instructions were really easy to follow. My partner was the one who fitted the gate and he managed it in about 20 mins. He is not good with his hands at all, or good at following instructions either (I usually do ALL of our DIY). So I'd say the gate is pretty much foolproof!

Once the gate was in place we tried opening and closing the gate. I wanted to see how easy it was to open one handed. I have tried other gates that were impossible to open one handed so Again Imwas doubtful! I slid the button on top of the gate with my thumb, then lifted the gate slightly (the second locking mechanism) and pulled the gate towards me. It opened easily. It wasnt difficult at all. I tried opening it in the other direction too. It opened just as easily. In addition to this, the gate automatically closed behind me each time. I have to say, I was impressed.

I don't often gush about products but I would like to say this is a fantastic safety gate. It is easy and quick to fit (or remove). It's easy to open one handed for adults, but the double locking mechanism makes it extremely secure to keep exploring babies and toddlers out of harms way.

I would definitely recommend this gate to any parent.