J.K.
My husband and I had the same arguement, I won and we got the wood floors. Every once in a while I remind him he wanted carpet and make him admit I was right, lol. Usually this happens when the dog runs in muddy from outside and jumps everywhere, or one of the kids spills something. Two seconds with the swiffer and tada its clean, carpet would involve scrubbing, and probably still stain.
In my kids rooms are the only place we have carpet, we have the stainmaster kind in there, anything that spills just beads up and you can soak it up with paper towels. So far nothing, including vomit/pee/grapejuice/paint has left a stain. It was much more expensive carpet though. Their rooms are small so it was not too bad. For a main living area, I would still go with the wood and a throw rug that can be dry cleaned or replaced.