Guest Blogger: Laura from Stroller Parking Only: Housework Denial

Over at Stroller Parking Only last week, Laura was too kind to host a guest post from this Mom of the Year.  Now this week, she is sharing some of her fantastic wit and wisdom over here.  You already know how great I think she is, so with out futher adeui, I’ll hush up so you can read what she has to say.  Thanks, Laura!

Housework Denial

This kitchen is CLEAN and it will never need to be cleaned ever again!  How could it? It’s so clean!

Before I became a mom, I was unaware of the exorbitant amount of cooking and cleaning that a baby adds to your life. I’ve never enjoyed cooking (although eating is another story), and I can’t say I’m a particularly clean person. However, since having a baby, I have learned to embrace (and by embrace, I mean barely tolerate) the housework.

I have done this by cultivating a healthy state of denial.

I always say to myself, “If I can just get these two loads of laundry done, and the dishes cleaned, I’ll be done!” As if there would be no more laundry to do or dishes to clean 20 minutes later. As if housework were a finite task, and not some kind of sisyphean nightmare. Somehow, though, the denial thing is working. The housework is getting done (albeit at a barely passable level).

Source I will not rest until I have pulled every book off this shelf!

If I didn’t delude myself into believing that housework can really get done and stay done, how depressing would that be?  You’re telling me I’m going to spend 20 minutes scrubbing every last crumb, stain and sauce crustiness out of this highchair, only to have it get completely filthy again in a few hours? No, sorry, that thought is too infuriating to bear. Instead, I will just enjoy the sense of satisfaction I get from having such a delightfully clean high chair. I will revel in its cleanliness, and I will not think beyond this moment.
I convince myself on an hourly basis that when a particular task is done, it is done forever, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I’m not sure how I came to think in this way, or whether this is common, but it is the best way I’ve found to get the housework done without completely losing my mind.

Do you experience Housework Denial?

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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