Husband persuades wife to stop cleaning up after their children with just seven words

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Every day, for years on end, Heidi Hamm would spend a few minutes tidying the room that her kids played in.

Typically, it’d be covered in Lego, other toys, and clothes - and, over time, Heidi probably spent countless hours making the room look ship shape after a long day.

At one point, her husband walked in to find her crawling around the floor picking up Lego bricks, and colour co-ordinating them because she loved to be organised.

It was at that point that he uttered seven words which seemed simple, but which she says changed her life.

“Why don't you just shut the door?”

She said: “I stared up at him. It's possible it was more of a glare. I had been expecting him to join me on the floor, sifting through the mountain of Lego. Instead he offered me those seven words.”

She did it though, and what she discovered inspired herself to create a Facebook post which has since gone viral - being shared more than 1,000 times,

Hiding some of your annoyances and problems away can be a form of self-care, she said, among a bunch of other simple changes you can make to your life.

She wrote: “These days everybody is talking about how self care is so important when you're a parent. And it is.

“It's so easy to lose yourself in taking care of everyone else. But self care? Yeah, it’s not so easy. It takes time, and energy and asking for help.

“But sometimes? Self care is hiding a stash of chocolate bars and keeping them all for yourself.

“Self care is turning on Netflix for the kids so you can drink your coffee. Hot.

“Self care is putting the kids to bed early and cuddling with hubby on the couch.

“Self care is closing a door.”

She concluded by saying that the room is tidied once a week (by her kids) and the rest of the time it stays a mess.

“And that's okay. Because this shut door in my life? Is one that I can live with.”