Any mum knows that juggling parenting, work and household chores is often a near-impossible task as there are just too many spinning plates. Even when you split these roles with your partner, having little ones to look after means that sometimes cleaning your home can take a back seat as other jobs take priority.
One worried parent has shared her concerns over an upcoming visit from her in-laws, as she feels 'embarrassed' by the state of her home, as it's not up to the standards that her mother-in-law would keep.
She admits that her home is very 'cluttered' and there's urine smells in the carpet from her little one's toilet accidents, leaving her worried about the reaction from her in-laws.
Taking to popular forum site Mumsnet to ask for advice, the mum, who remains anonymous, is stuck on whether to make a 'special effort' to clean her home ahead of the visit, or to let her in-laws see the reality of their space with a young child and a baby.
The stressed-out mum wrote: "My inlaws live in a different part of the country now and are coming to stay near us for the first time next week. Sounds terrible but I'm just so pleased we don't have enough space for them to actually stay in our house.
"However, they will still be spending a lot of time with us in our home which is nice but do I make a special effort to clean and present the house better or should they just take us as they find us?
The woman then explained that she has a baby and a four-year-old. The mum and her partner both work, and the reality of juggling that and parenting means their house often looks quite 'cluttered'.
She also adds that both her and her partner have ADHD, explaining that "we're not exactly the most functional people around the home!"
"My mil [mother in law] likes things clean, tidy and well presented (in her house) so this makes me feel a bit pressurised. They've seen our house plenty of times before but they've never spent more than an hour tops in it", the mum continues.
What would you do in this situation? Tell us in the comments...
"We have stuff everywhere, stains on chairs, walls, floors, and grass that hasn't been cut for weeks and weeks. Clean clothes rarely find themselves in wardrobes or cupboards. Instead they gather in piles on the landing waiting to be distributed. The kitchen units are fairly cluttered and the fridge and hob need a good clean."
Joking that her 'in laws should be okay' in the toilets, the mum says that she's 'very fussy' about keeping those clean, so she shouldn't have an issue there.
However, her biggest worry is the odour that sometimes comes from her carpets after her child has accidents in the house.
She wrote: "The other thing is, dc1 [her child] has toileting accidents (no. 1s) every so often so I can sometimes smell that in the carpet despite always cleaning it after. That particularly embarrasses me.
Desperate for advice, she ended the post with the question: "Would you spruce up the house for inlaws? Or just let them see it for how it really is?"
People offered their advice in the comments, with most Mumsnet users recommending that the mum does put the effort in to clean.
One wrote: "I would spruce it to within an inch of its life. But I’d resent doing it".
While another said: "Of course you need to clean it. Same as you you would for anyone visiting. I would also try clean the carpets that have urine in them. They will stink otherwise".
A third commenter offered a different view, writing: "I definitely wouldn’t go to any effort…it’s your home and visitors should either accept your standards or go elsewhere".
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