Motherhood Parables: The Messy High Chair

Here is the second parable from motherhood that has come to mind frequently...namely everytime I clean the high chair (daily).

The Parable of the Messy High Chair
We have a one year old baby. And boy does she love throwing food and squishing food all over her high chair and floor. I'm always surprised at how food gets in the most-inconvenient-to-clean corners of that chair. And I'm also surprised at the amazing sticking power sweet potato and other foods have. once dried. Some I would compare to the power of super glue! Seriously...not fun. Anyone who saw our high chair when baby first started eating would've thought I never cleaned it.

I wipe things down quickly if I get a chance. But frequently I don't get it all before it hardens. So Some would just pile on and I'd have crusty mountains piling up on the sides betweent he bars. Don't judge me as being a bad mom because of my messes! :)

Anyway, the first few months I didn't want to clean that high chair because it always involved a half hour of scraping and strenuous work. I used a pastry scraper. IT wasn't fun trying to scratch and force all those pieces of hardened gunk off...and especially in the corners.

IT wasn't until I stopped and actually thought about my approach and wondered. "Is this the best approach? Then I thought about my washing dishes. If a dish was left on the oven and the food remnants hardened in the pot, I always tell Paul to soak it over night and then I'll wash it in the morning. I'd rather spend two minutes washing it the next day, than Paul's 30 minutes trying to scrub it out late that night.

Isn't it the same with the high chair?
So I sprayed it with lemon water and went back ten minutes later with my rag and got most of it accomplished just fine, without a scraper.

Lessons learned: 
I am not the best cleaner.
I don't like cleaning things when I don't know how to do it well and it takes a ton of my effort, time, and energy.
Lemon water and a good soak is often times what crusty old dried food needs to get clean.
And I should just clean it up before it dries--but that's the ideal and honestly...not gonna happen as often as I'd like.

I think about this all the time in lmy life. What are my approaches to the things I do?
I especially think about it a lot with homeschool. Are things easier or harder than they should be?
What feels natural and nice and what feels forced and hard to do?

So, I will keep this question in my mind. And every time I see my high chair. :)