This

This is not a battlefield.

This is not the remnants from a civilization forced to flee.

This is not a roach motel.

This is the dinner table.

After #MaxLoco.

This defeated me many times. It left me bent, broken of spirit and beaten.

I would battle. Winning small skirmishes every so often, but always losing the war.

I could feel the Sisyphean task spreading, growing, infecting every waking moment, every waking hour.

Losing my religion.

At least, I was.

But I have seen redemption. 

I have tasted sweet, sweet victory.

I have a Swiffer WetJet.

And now this table, this chair, this hardwood floor (oh how I cursed you hardwood floor!) are clean.

Yes, actually clean.

And with such speed and convenience that it finally feels like the tide is turning.

#MaxLoco, time to bring that toilet training.

Your unleashed excreta no longer terrify me.

This is my #ManClean.

And I'm giving away an Ultimate Swiffer Man Clean Kit

Simply leave a comment below and/or follow us on Twitter  (@EhCanaDad) mentioning #ManClean and you'll be entered to win.

Check out showyourclean.ca for your Man Clean boasts and your chance to win a trip to Toronto to play basketball with your buddies at the ACC.

You can even get some cleaning tips from a real live Raptor (Amir Johnson).

Full disclosure - Swiffer gave me a box of free cleaning products. Gold I tell you, gold!

Man Clean (with Amir Johnson)

Guys often get a bad rap when it comes to cleaning. The perception of the lazy teenager with plates of half-eaten pizza rotting under the bed, three-week old underwear piled on the floor, dustbunnies the size of large rodents carries over into our older years.

Throughout my twenties, while there were definitely times I'd prefer to sit on the couch and watch hockey, football, or the latest dumb teen movie (Not Another Teen Movie) at some point the cleaning usually got done. Cleaning carried over into marriage - for the most part as double-income-no-kids meant regular visits from a cleaning service.

Fast forward to fatherhood - no money and no time. Just when we feel that we get a handle on things, I turn around and the house looks like a shipping container filled with colourful plastic collided with a
vegetable puree factory. Sure we still get the place professionally cleaned every couple of weeks, but 34 minutes after they've left, you'd think it had been 34 months.

#MaxLoco is partly to blame. While the big guy contemplates a Ghostbuster Hallowe'en costume, the little one wouldn't need a costume to go as Slimer.


So after the boys are in bed, instead of a good glass of red wine and a lovely conversation with my beautiful wife, or a beer with the guys watching the game, I'm stuck scrubbing avocado off the wall, chipping mashed potatoes off the table,  and scraping rancid milk from between the hardwood floorboards. Until this week.

This week the good folks at Swiffer sent me a small package of sanity. 

Combined with some solid tips from Raptors forward Amir Johnson, it was much easier to get the job done. I mean how hard is it really to "set the mood" and "reward yourself"? Yes, Amir! Sure there were a couple steps in between, but nothing painful. A quick sweep with the Swiffer and a mop with the WetJet and I could feel things getting under control. They're calling it Man Clean - empowering guys to get their cleaning swagger back. Call it what you want, it works.

First up was the baked Mac 'N Cheese. Thrown, smeared and smushed by this gremlin, but it was quick and easy to get it Man Cleaned. 

Score one opportunity to veg in front of the Netflix.

We've started toilet training the Loco this week too, so the timing couldn't be better. Stay tuned to CanaDad to see how that turns out and you could win your own Ultimate Swiffer Man Clean Kit. 

Join Amir and Swiffer - visit www.showyourclean.ca to boast about your Man Clean and join the movement.

Oh yeah, and the grand prize is a trip to Toronto to play a private basketball game with buddies at the ACC. #ManClean

Look, it really worked:

Before

After

Full Discloure: Swiffer provided me with a complimentary Ultimate Swiffer Man Clean Kit