I have a hair appointment after work tonight. This means that while I'm relaxing with a glass of wine and chatting tv shows and movies with the ladies of Vanity Chic, my children will be systematically destroying my house. Seriously. It's a given. I'll get home around 7:30, and while the children will be fed, clean, happy, and about ready for bed. But my house will be 2600 square feet of chaos and disaster.
It's not their fault. Not really. They're 2 and 5. I'm trying to instill that we clean up after ourselves, but it's hard to keep A motivated to pick up her stuff when the second that her Magic Clip Princesses are in the box her brother dumps them out. And in the interest of fairness (something I'm big on, but that's another story) I don't really feel right about asking A to clean up after her brother.
So what will happen is after bedtime, I'll make the rounds through the house and clean up. It's going to suck. I'm going to be tired and cranky, but I'll tell myself that it's the price I pay for two hours of peace and quiet and it'll be over soon. Which it will. In a half hour I can have pretty much everything where it belongs and I'll feel better about everything. I don't function well in chaos.
And that's kind of why I'm confused about why it's suddenly become the thing among parents, mainly moms, to share what a clusterf*ck state your house and sometimes yourself, are in. Seriously. I follow or used to follow a lot of the more popular mom blogs. But honestly, I got really sick of hearing about how you haven't had time to shower in three days and your house is a disaster and here is a pic of the laundry that is taller than your child. Look, I get it. Kids are not neat and clean. They have no respect for organizational systems and they'll eat floor Cheerios before they'll eat a dinner that you spent all afternoon putting together. But why are you almost bragging about what a wreck you are? What happened to having pride in yourself and your home?
When it comes to the domestic front I'm pretty much on my own. Whether I go to work or not, I get a shower. Every day. Sometimes I get up painfully early to do it. Before I go to bed at night, my house is cleaned up. It's not photo ready, but you better believe that I'm not letting milk solidify on the counter and leaving a sinkful of dishes. I do have a once a month housekeeper that does the deep cleaning stuff. But she doesn't do my laundry or pick up toys or organize my mail.
I'm not necessarily saying that we should go back to the 1950s and there are probably feminists reading this that are ready to tear my head off. I just don't get why we are spending hours on Pinterest and Facebook and Instagramming our filthy homes instead of taking care of them. Did I miss something? Did it become cool and fashionable to be what people nowadays call "a hot mess"? And if you are going to be a hot mess, why are you bragging about it? Do you want the world to cheer you on in solidarity?
My mother and grandmother maintained pristine homes, all while raising children and getting minimal help from spouses. And being dressed every day. If messy homes and unshowered moms are the new normal today, what's going to be normal for my kids? Gross.
Rant over.
Now stop reading this and go put your laundry away :)
