Strange Machines

Happy 2012!

I know I know. I’d been fairly MIA all of 2011. You see, my weekly housekeeper quit to look after her sick mom back in December 2010 and we decided not to hire anyone new to replace her. So I’ve been doing the cleaning and laundry too, which after a year I am still doing rather poorly (but we get by). Plus when you’re so exhausted any blogging ideas kind of dissipate and disappear before they hit paper (or the iPhone).

The kids have been great. 5 and 2 have been a lovely age for each kid so far. Both are helpful with housework – they love hanging out and keeping laundry, folding and keeping clothes, and pick up their toys and keep them. When I need to do housework, they have a choice of helping or entertaining themselves. They’ve become very good at the latter!

So I have to say full-time housework has been a win-win for this family. The kids have learnt to play on their own without my having to be there but am within shouting distance in the same house. I get a bit of quiet time washing dishes and doing laundry.

The only downside for me is I need to rest a lot more during the day because it isn’t second nature for me to do housework but I trudge on because I want it to be easy for my kids, second nature, no sweat for them to do housework, not like the chore it is for me. After all, isn’t parenthood is about arming our kids with life skills? This is one skill I want my kids to have. I truly feel that life would be so much easier for them if they embrace it.