What gets you really, seriously annoyed about your #momlife? I’m talking bite your lips, keep your mouth shut, walk-away-to-the-other-room annoyed when you’re in company?
Since you’re not company, today I’m spilling the beans on what I’d *really* say next time somebody asks me one of these.
Advice: Spend all your time cooking and cleaning up after your kids, because it must be a more than full time job (in that person’s opinion!).
Sounds like: Aren’t you terribly busy? With that many kids, you must be cooking or cleaning about every single minute! I don’t know how you do it! (Thinly implied: you *aren’t* actually doing it.)
Reeeallly. I happen to think I know better than to spend every single second cleaning – whatever happened to personal responsibility? Picking up after yourself? Wiping up after you track in messes?
No large family mom I know thinks it’s her job to tidy up after perpetually messy offspring – she’s got other chores to do!
Speaking of which…. The next piece of advice is:
Advice: Do all the kitchen work yourself (‘cause the kids aren’t capable enough).
Sounds like: You let your son use the blender? Are you overworking him, or do you just not care about your kitchen at all?!
Oh, I do; that’s why I’m doing it. Or *he’s* doing it, rather. Because he’s old enough, he wanted to know, and I can trust the lock button on my blender lid.
It’s time he learned how to make homemade ice cream for himself (and his siblings) whenever he wants it.
(It’s called food science? Feeding yourself? Recipe adventuring??)
No, you don’t have to do everything for them. It’s called “learning how to be a responsible adult.”
Oh, and then what about this one:
Advice: Supervise all the laundry lest your children discover that clean socks do *not* magically populate in their drawers.
Sounds like: Do you really make your kids do all the laundry? I’d be afraid mine would shrink the clothes or something!
Yeah. Or something. Look, their clothes shouldn’t shrink – and if they would when you put them in the dryer, then you’re buying too-fancy clothes for the kids.
You can put all delicates in the mesh bags. The rest is just adding soap and programming buttons.
What’s so hard about that?!
And if they *like* going out mudding or soaking themselves, then it’s high time they found out what happens to the clothes level in their dresser drawers every time they change outfits!
(No, you don’t have to do everything for them. It’s called “learning to be a responsible adult.”)
And here’s my favorite:
Advice: Stop (volunteering, running a business, or homeschooling) so you can do *your* work instead of making *them* do your work.
Sounds like: But are you sure you can handle it? All the homeschooling and everything? If you stopped, you’d have more time to spend with your kids….
Oh, really? Aren’t I spending all day at home with them, broadening their experiences, working alongside of them?
What do you think I do all day when homeschooling, throw a book at them and lock them in their rooms?! (I hope you never homeschool, if that’s what you think!)
So much life happens in the non-school hours – the meals, the sibling fights, the parenting discussions, all of it.
Homeschooling is just a couple hours of the day (where they’re right by me, not off at school the whole day). So if you’re worried about the number of hours homeschooling takes, I can tell you that it’s way less than they’d be spending at school.
So take that.
Now that I’ve ranted enough, let’s talk about where *you* want to go in life. #Momlife, specifically.
I want to help you ignore the scolding relatives and “well-meaning” friends, clear out tons of free time in your day, and teach your kids chore responsibility while you’re at it!
Sound good?
