Zhanguoce

Let’s look at what has happened to the kids place in the housework first. Around the turn of the century, the role of the children in the home began to change up until this time, adults and kids of all classes except the gentry toiled more or less side by side to keep the household going. There was water to fetch. Kids were welcomed as workers into this people-powered world. Hardworking little rascals trudged through the blizzard to get the old Doc for the family down with the plague, saving them all. Now we use the phone to call the doctor. Brave little Peter was sent through the dark woods at night to get a hot coal from a neighbor because the fire had failed at his house and everyone was freezing to death. Now we flick a switch to get heat. Little Red Riding Hood took care of Grandma, and Heidi took care of goats. Now we send Grandma past, children worked asan integral part of the family and took their chances with danger, trouble, and fatigue like verybody else.

I always thought that when the kids grow up and are out of the home. I will finally have time to muster up my orgaization, and have my home in perfect order, a dream I’ve had for 15 years. But my dream didn’t happen. My habits are in my psyche, and although I’ve pursued methods through the year, or the easiest way to get the job of housework done efficiently, no method has ever stuck… so I want to change my ways after reading books about organizing, fix and paint everything and for once be on top.

Do you know, I’ve been in charge of my own home for 25 years and aside from occasional hints to make certain household chores easier, while coffee klatching with other mothers, and our sharing and complaining, nobody has ever confessed in depth, that there’s a difference between cleanie and being messy housekeepers. And i know I was different from the cleanies, but as my self esteem was always on the verge of bottoming out, it was so personal, I coudn’t share it with anyone.. but accept the endless treadmill of housework. And, i longed so to make it easier, but I didn’t know how.