How to put across host rules for families with young children?

[Renea-and-Jordo0]

We have a little mud brick cottage that we host out. It's set in a rural mountain area and we love that families get to enjoy all that surrounds it. My problem is how do I put across stricter rules with younger children in regards to playing on furniture, food crumbs & stains, and general "younger" children mess? We have our "House Rules" as you leave our cottage the same as on arrival.....but in saying that young children can be a handful. Do I hold the parents responsible for their kids being kids? Our last guests had 4 children aged 3-9 years. And our place is just a small 2 bedroom, 1 combined living/kitchen area. So it was left in quite a messy state, not damaged, but very dirty. I want to accept families to stay but I don't want to spend hours cleaning up after younger children's messes. Any help on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@Renea-and-Jordo0:
You can leave a framed short list of rules on a wall, an extra page in your home manual and even send an email with extra expectations at the time of booking but unfortunately you may be waging a battle you will never win. Things are not the same as when we grew up. We have found that many parents simply excuse the child's behavior and anything that happens is simply "kids being kids." We accept children in our homes and hope for the best while scheduling extra cleaning time whenever we receive a child booking.

[Anonymous]

@Renea-and-Jordo0  You might try being clearer in your rules about precisely which cleaning tasks you expect guests to perform before checkout - for example washing the dishes and removing the rubbish.  "Leave the cottage same as on arrival" sounds not only vague but also disingenuous, unless you expect guests to wash their linens, make the beds, and fully prepare the home for the next guests.  

Plenty of hosts also have rules restricting food to the kitchen/dining area, so the crumb and stain radius is kept under control.