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Although I am not particularly squeamish about using public restrooms that may be described with a list of adjectives that does not necessarily include "sterile," "spotless" or even "clean," I have recently developed a strong aversion to entering a specific bathroom that is right down the hall from where I live. In my own house. And belonging to my own children.

This space, which USED to resemble a bathroom, but now has taken on a certain post-apocalyptic war-ravaged feel, is the only room in the house that appears impervious to the bi-weekly cleanings I pay someone else to do. Like a haunted attic that just won't stay cobweb-free no matter how many times you dust, my boys' restroom seems to revert back to its previously characteristic state of horror seemingly within moments of my cleaning lady's exit through the front door.

"What is that smell?" I will wonder aloud, my nose wrinkling, as I pass through the hallway outside the kids' toilet and contemplate whether someone has been careless enough to let an alley cat into our home. Perhaps my sons have somehow regressed to the point at which they feel the need to mark their territory, although the cheery pirate bathroom motif should really suffice.

I've tried ignoring the existence of the bathroom and hoping any visiting guests will do the same, but that's about as difficult as concealing a crack den in an otherwise tidy two-story suburban residence - you're just bound to notice one room is a bit…off.

So, on occasion, my husband and I will force ourselves through the threshold and survey the damage. Aside from the distinct aroma, we will marvel at the amount of toothpaste that appears to be growing up from the tile on the sink, like an insidious blue-green sparkly mold that has broken out of a science lab petri dish and intends on devouring our home, surface by surface.

Until we look closely, we'll assume that something has exploded within the basin itself, as tiny white ricochet marks seem to cover the entire expanse of the ceramic. Upon further inspection, we'll realize it's a Jackson Pollack pattern of toothpaste, saliva and tiny bits of whatever else happened to be swirled around in someone's mouth and then shot out in a detonating eruption.

My husband and I stand aghast for about as long as we can muster up the strength (which isn't very long), before loudly demanding the presence of our sons.

"What is this mess?!" I will bellow.

"What mess? By the way, I got an eight out of 10 on my English test," the older one will rapidly fire out, as he takes on the persona of a diminutive Jedi Master attempting to supernaturally compel our attention from the state of the bathroom to something else entirely.

"I think the toilet is dripping." My younger son's approach is to place the blame on anyone else, especially inanimate objects that cannot argue in their own defense.

"Oh, there's some dripping going on, but not from the toilet…" I remark, while pointing my finger and furrowing my brow in a way that suggests less television and dessert if matters are not attended to immediately.

Painfully, I coerce my children into cleaning the bathroom. Unfortunately, my sons are about as effective at it as I happen to be, which is why I hire someone else to do it in the first place. Sigh. Perhaps she has a free day this week.

- Rachael Koenig

Rachael Koenig is a writer and humorist deriving most of her inspiration from her two sons, aged nine and five, and step-daughter, aged 13. Her site Maxisms contains personal stories and a collection of precocious, snarky and hilarious conversations between herself and her children. Her work has recently appeared on scarymommy.com, rolereboot.org, whattheflicka.com and The New York Times parenting blog Motherlode. She thinks of herself as more of an essayist than a blogger, because she is old-fashioned and grumpy and out of touch with modern social media vernacular. Also, "blogger" still sounds like something one would pull out of a left nostril. She can be reached on Facebook.