Saturday, February 6, 2010

Shovelling during a Snow Storm


I really loved the part of 'About A Boy' where Will discusses thinking of the day as units of time, not more than half an hour. Sometimes as my day goes by, I do think of it as just that, burning units of time. And I do wonder, where do all those units go, they seem to just fly by.

I look around my house that is pretty much in a constant state of looking as though it has been ransacked by burglars. (Though I am not sure what they would find; a handful of stale rice crackers and few headless play mobil men). If you have never seen my house in this state, I have some sad news for you, clearly we have not reached that place in our relationship where I am comfortable showing you the soft under belly of my true self.

I just don't know how one person (or even two) is supposed to do all this. I have begun to delegate certain responsibilities to the children, I think this is important on so many levels, not least of all, my sanity. But, in a given week I have 5 beds to change, 100 finger and toe nails to clip, numerous bottom wipes, (not all my own), 21 meals to prepare, more loads of laundry than I can count, at least 10 lessons to deliver and pick children up from and the list goes on. And at the end of this I am supposed to create time for myself and for my spouse.

I am not alone, fortunantely, but really, is it so bad if the tidying gets the designation of the last remaining, and somewhat versatile units of time. Lets just call them flex units. So I can tidy, or I can take my children to the park. Or, I can tidy or I can do a craft, or blog, or whatever. And I have always said that cleaning with children in the house is like shovelling during the snow storm.

So, as I sit here on my bed with two baskets of unfolded laundry, having spent a delightful morning playing here and on etsy, I remind myself, I have just used up 4 units of time, and they were flex units, so all is okay. And I promise I will not look back at the end of my life and say "Gee I wish I had spent less time with my family and more time cleaning."




2 comments:

  1. Hi When my children were younger we all did a housework blitz on saturday morn, all were assigned jobs, like, hoovering,cleaning the bathroom, dusting, sweeping the front porch,cleaning sink bench, cleaning out fridge,etc.This included dad, we often talked to them about how "we are a family" and a family needs to work together.To create a clean home. Enjoy your time, Cheers Marie

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  2. mary,
    i'm with you - it's more frustrating to tidy and have it messed up behind you than to never tidy at all. just convince the mister in my house and all will be fine.
    caralyn

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