There is a great battle that goes on in our house every couple of days. It is a battle of wits, determination and strength. Neither party is willing to give up their positions and it generally ends in tears and sorrow. It may not be comparable to other great history-worthy battles such as The Battle of Hastings, or The Battle of Midway. But, in our house, this battle is real and it is of utmost importance. It is about one woman's mission to eliminate dust bunnys, dog hair and endless crumbs, and her small, but feisty opponent who tries to sabotage the mission.
It is the Great Vaccum Battle of 2012.
Does it sound dramatic enough yet? I hope so.
The Vacuum is a very sought after and desired appliance in our household. I like it due to its usefulness in cleaning up toddler messes and dog hair, however a certain toddler likes it for reasons I have yet to completely figure out. In fact he has an obsession with it.
The moment the motor starts to whir, I hear little footsteps hurrying along the floorboards. I may get two or three motions back and forth before the Vaccum is descended upon and is being wrangled from my hands. I would have no problem letting him do the vacuuming if he actually could do it effectively, but instead he basically bashes it into every surface and piece of furniture in the house. It takes me about 5 minutes to do one corner with his 'help'.
If I manage to somehow release his death grip on the vacuum handle, I then have to deal with a tantrum, screaming, crying, throwing oneself on the floor, it's a lose, lose situation.
My only hope is if he gets distracted by the actual main part of the vacuum and sits on it like a ride on car that blows air out and gives him and awesome wind blown 80's video clip look and makes me want to bust out 'Livin on a Prayer'.
Needless to say, not enough vacuuming is occurring in my house right now. I love that he is keen to help me, but this is just not working.
Do you have helpers that actually make certain jobs ten times harder?
10 comments on "The Great Vacuum Battle of 2012"
My helpers seem to have an innate fear of the vacuum cleaner. There is no chance they would be prying it from my hands, the broom perhaps but not the vacuum.
I only vacuum when Toddler C is napping...which means that his room, which is the room that probably needs it most, never gets cleaned!
hosing down the verandah is a pointless task with small people. We just end up with fights over the hose, and water everywhere!!!
My tribe love the vacuum cleaner too. But thankfully my 13 month old triplets like the main body of it, so that's not too bad. And as for the 3 year old and 6 year old, I just get them to use it!
Yeah fighting one off is hard enough, I cannot even imagine getting anything done with three!!!! WOW!
I wish I had that option, our house is too loud...I miss the days when the vacuum used to lul him to sleep!
Oh I can imagine the mess, eeeek!! Not looking forward to that!