I had an interesting conversation today with my colleagues at work, during a coffee break in which we were sharing some (very good) cookies. I was looking at the bag of cookies and I suddenly realized how low my cleaning standards have gotten since I got kids. Don't worry, you might end up understanding the connection between the two by the end of this post.
So the conversation was something like:
Me: You know, my youngest (he's two years old) loooves chocolate. At a point where "cola" (short for 'chocolat' in French) is his first word when he wakes up. So because we don't care about cavities and all that healthy eating @$%!, we give him chocolate candies (the round variety, individually wrapped). He's very independent and wants to unwrap them himself. Which means the chocolate stuff ends up quite often on the floor... and keeps on rolling.
Colleagues: hmmm...
Me: Well, I figured I just let him pick it up and eat it.
Colleagues: *surprised gasps...*
Me: Even more, I challenge him to find it before the cat does :-D
Colleagues: So he develops his resistance to germs.
Me: Indeed, and he learns about survival, fighting off the cat for food. And the cat is a fast learner, it sits under his chair when we're at the table. It figured out pretty fast who's the weak link...
Colleagues: So the cat is useful, keeping a clean floor. *mocking a colleague who just got rid of his cat recently*
Me: Yes, exactly! I am even considering getting a dog...Dogs have really big tongues.
One colleague (picking up on my idea): So the cat is the vacuum cleaner and the dog would be the swiper.
Me: Yup, perfect, isn't it? So... who wants to come over for dinner at my place? :-)
Colleagues: *unsettling silence*
That's where my cleaning standards are at this point. And other standards have changed (for the worse) as well, but it's a different story for some other time. Or most probably never. It might be safer.
