If Snow White Can Do It, SO CAN WE!

So you know that charming smiling Snow White? She wanders into the home of the 7 dwarfs and decides she'll "tidy up the place" while she waits for them to return home. She enlists the help of the forest creatures, and together they "whistle while they work."

 

Snow does her best to clean up the nasty house of 7 grown men, and gently corrects the animals when they don't get their chore done quite right. She never loses her temper, and never even stops singing. Ah, to be like sweet Snow White-keeping housework light and gentle and sweet.
I have to say, I do love a tidy house. I have every room organized to keep things simple and have a place for everything. I have a cleaning schedule I try not to waver from which includes daily chores for the kids and a weekly cleaning day for me. It can EASILY get out of hand though! Especially since my little "deers" don't always take to my correction as nicely as the forest animals in this video.

 



Honestly, I can turn into the ugly hag in 10 seconds FLAT if things aren't done right.
It's that perfectionist in me. Striving for the Better Homes and Gardens home of the month is an unlikely goal to meet. Those houses are STAGED people! But here is the difference between Snow White and me. Her desire is to bless those little men. She wants to use the help she has and work together with them to prepare a nice tidy house and a warm meal to come home to. Her goal isn't a perfect house. Her goal isn't a perfect meal. Her goal is BLESSING those who live in the home. And you want to know what happens when those men get home?

 

As the dwarfs come down the road the animals watch from the window in anticipation of them returning. (Sound like a scene from your house? I know my kids LOVE to watch for Daddy to come home when they hear his car coming.) They want the men to see what they've worked so hard to prepare for them. Sure, in this illustration Snow White is now taking a nap, but hey, her job is DONE! Ha! ANYWAY, when the men come home they can't believe their eyes. The home looks warm and welcoming from even afar. Snow touches all of their senses-they see the light, feel the dust gone under their fingers, smell the dinner cooking. She's accomplished her goal. They end up all sitting around the dinner table eating a yummy meal while she tells them of her story. You know what happens after that? They begin to protect and provide for her. They even stand up to the old hag who tries to come back and kill Snow White herself.

So what's the point of all of this? To encourage you to lower your expectations not only on yourself, but on your home, your meals, and your family. Be OK with not having things just right. Teach your children to do chores with a happy attitude as doing them unto the Lord. Stock your pantry with easy to prepare meal options. Make an effort to keep a tidy, but lived in home that welcomes your man home each day "with a smile and a song." Invite others into your not so perfect home. Invest in your family and friends instead of always trying to reach that perfect life dream(that will never happen).

As I've been reading No More Perfect Moms I've been struck by the fact that in most areas my expectations are way too high. Now, there are some areas where the expectations may be too low, and that may be your case as well, but all “too often we talk ourselves right out of hospitality because we fear that our efforts won’t measure up. Measure up to what? That elusive “perfect picture” we have in our mind of what our house needs to look like, what kind of food we need to serve, or even how we want our kids to behave.” –Jill Savage, NO MORE PERFECT MOMS

What do you need to change? Is it that you need to try a little harder to be like Snow White and whistle while you work? Do you need to raise the expectations on your kids to help with the chores? Do you need to lower the expectations you have for yourself in being able to do it all? I'd like to encourage you to keep it simple, smile more, and demand less of yourself. Love your man and kids more deeply. Find out if there are things they need from you that you aren't giving them because you're too caught up in the "perfection infection" and not enough in trying to bless them with a "smile and a song!"