I Believe In Cleaning the House With My Kids Awake, do you?

I have three young children, ages 5, 5, and 2. My house gets messy hourly! And despite our best efforts random toys, clothes, shoes, pillows, crayons, puzzles, and things get scattered around the house all the time.

And that is to be expected! I have three young kids, and I value free play time.

But, I don't buy into the idea that I need to wait until my children are asleep or away to clean up my house. While very humorous, phrases like "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing" (Phyllis Diller), or that "cleaning with kids in the house is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos" I still believe I should be cleaning my house while my kids are around and awake. And it is not because I am a cleaning freak (by any means!).

Here are the four reasons I believe in cleaning the house with kids awake:
1) I don't believe my daily life at home with my kids should be all about them
2) I don't want my children to think that a magical elf comes and cleans their house for them each and every night.
3) If I clean during the day, my children can help me.
4) I don't want to spend my precious me time, quiet time, cleaning (like after my children's bedtime).

(To further understand my position and those four reasons, be sure to read my entire blog post on this topic - http://www.whatsupfagans.com/2014/04/i-believe-in-cleaning-the-house-with-kids-awake/)

So, I want to know, do you hold a similar belief? Or do you clean during nap time or after your child's bedtime?