Hard Labor
Mar 10th 2008
Claudia DainGoddess Grins
I’m a parent. That means that I did all the work for a really long time. Not only did I do the laundry, the shopping, the vacuuming, the dusting, the cooking, the pot scrubbing, the dishwasher loading and unloading, the mowing, the raking, the sweeping, the edging and the blowing, but I had to teach each of my three kids to do these tasks as well.
It wasn’t easy. Every parent knows that it’s easier to do the job yourself, in a quarter of the time, than to encourage, teach, browbeat your kids into doing it. When they’re tiny, they think putting a bowl into the dishwasher is fun. They run to get a rake when they see Daddy raking the leaves. This phase, this sweet phase, passes very quickly. Of course, they aren’t actually much use when it come to raking or washing, but their eagerness is adorable.
By the time they can actually do these mind-numbing, back-breaking tasks, they don’t want to do them anymore. The price of growing up. These are the years when you threaten, scowl, and snarl them into doing the work of maintaining a house.
Then come the years when all the battles are won; the kids both know how to do the chores well and have learned the futility of resistance to doing them. They are spectacular, free labor. Well, not really free; they do get full medical and dental.
That’s when it happens. After all the years of effort, after teaching them how to mow and vacuum and take out the trash, and after getting used to having these icky jobs done with no effort on my part, that’s when it happens.
They move out.
What household job did you hate the most as a kid? What job do you still hate the most?
76 Comments »
Susan K on 10 Mar 2008 at 6:40 am #
As a kid I hated dusting, doing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom. Oh yeah and mowing the lawn. I absolutely detested doing that. Now that I have my own home I hate dusting, doing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom. I don’t have to mow the lawn anymore cause I have a fiance to do it now.
ladydawgfan on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:00 am #
Doing the dishes, and as an adult, it’s still that way. I grew up in a family of 5 kids, and always seemed to get stuck with the dishes. I HATE them!!! I will happily scrub my toilet and dust before I will clean my kitchen!!! There is just something about sticking my hands in warm, chunky water with dirty dishes that grosses me out!! BLEEEECCH!!!! :p
Freedom Writer on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:02 am #
All of them and All of them.
That’s what husbands are for!
hvitveis on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:09 am #
When I was little I liked to clean the dishes with my mother after dinner (before washdisher came) and pick up pine-nuts (?) in the garden and help my dad when burning the grass was still allowed.
I hated cleaning my room, and in fact never did. My mother was of the “it´s your room, your business” persuation and never bothered to open the door, only gave me a day a week to clean my clothes.
I hate dusting, so I never do. So if anyone comes to my flat looking for dust they are in luck, cause there is lots. The bathroom is not my favourite, but I like dirty bathroom even less so it gets done. And I don´t like doing dishes much now, but since boyfriend prefer dishes to cooking, I do not have to do them much.
PJ on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:22 am #
As a kid, I hated doing dishes. My hands chap easily and washing dishes exacerbated that. Part of it was pure rebellion too. I’m oldest of five and the only girl. My mom was one of those who thought cleaning house and washing dishes was “womens work” so my brothers never had to do it. Probably why I’m still not fond of household chores. I do it, since I haven’t been able to train the dogs to it yet, but I don’t have to like it.
elsiehogarth on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:53 am #
I have to also say dusting. You take the dust off, you wax, you polish and you turn around and go back and already you see some dust. It’s like a never ending battle.
Another is laundry….I know you load it, put your detergent, softner etc. and it does it all but I have always felt that I have to watch it in case something goes wrong. I fear flooding. So I really can’t concentrate on anything when I do laundry but I love to iron. I have 3 different irons, all kinds of sprays in scents (lemon verbene, orange blossom, lavendar, rose etc.), sizing, starch etc. My Dad says that I must of owned a dry cleaner in another life time.
KariE on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:54 am #
Growing up my sister and I had to wash the dishes. One night she would wash and I would dry and put them away. The next night we would switch. I hated dishes. The silverware was the worst.
Now that I have my own house and dishes I don’t mind it so much. I love the look of a clean kitchen so if doing the dishes gets me a clean kitchen, so be it. Now a days I hate cleaning the bathroom. I have two now so its a double whammy.
amy1242 on 10 Mar 2008 at 8:18 am #
Like PJ, I was the only girl and mom NEVER made the boys do anything domestic. I hated vacuuming because the vacuum was bigger than me and hard to handle. I also hated doing the dishes. Our kitchen window looked over our backyard and driveway. So, while standing on a chair doing the dishes every night, I could see dad playing baseball, basketball, football, whatever, with the boys. On a daily basis, I would get a wet, soapy hand to the face from my mom, telling me this was my job and to stop being so whiney. Then she would send me up to bathe and bed. Nowadays, I still hate doing the dishes (but do them anyway) and folding laundry has to wait till the end of the day when there is something on tv for me to watch while doing it. Mom wonders why the boys never help out during Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I just give her a dirty look and stick my hands in the icky, chunky water (as ladydawgfan so nicely put it) and get on with my life.
doglady on 10 Mar 2008 at 8:19 am #
When were growing up there was a chores list and we each had a certain number we had to do every week to get our allowance. They were age appropriate until we were all big enough to do all of them. We could negotiate out of hated chores, but it was YOUR responsibility to make sure your stuff got done.
I HATED doing the dishes. YUCK! Anything else was okay. I had a job cleaning stables when I was 9 so I was used to that kind of work. Trained me for cleaning dog runs which is what I hate to do now. I love to spend time with my rescue dogs which distracts me from actually cleaning their runs.
Now I really hate ironing and I still try to to do what I can to avoid washing dishes!
Julia London on 10 Mar 2008 at 8:58 am #
OH! This gets my blood boiling. When I was a kid, we had set chores, too. Mine were to make beds and vacuum. My sisters had to make their beds and so other things, too. But I had to make my bed AND my brother’s. Then I had to vacuum my room AND his. A little sexist, there, Mom??? So when interrogated about this at a recent family event, she insisted that brother had chores. His chores were to mow the lawn (riding lawn mower=fun when you’re That Age) and burn the trash (we lived on a ranch. burning the trash was a magical time for a kid). Those were his chores!!
I was robbed and she won’t even admit it!
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 9:14 am #
This is a hot button topic, isn’t it?
I am so not on board for the sexist chores list. Not fair. Plus, how are boys going to learn to do anything in the house like functioning adults (this was a fav phrase of mine as a Mom: functioning adult) if they weren’t taught as kids?
My mom divided up everything equally between my sister and I, and I do mean equally. I appreciated that. One night I’d load the dishwasher and she’d do the pots, and the other night it was reversed. If it was a night with a lot of pots, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Even at the time, grumbling, I thought it was fair.
Meg on 10 Mar 2008 at 9:56 am #
That would be vacuuming then… and vacuuming now. I also did not like cleaning my room. Everything would either get pushed under the bed or into the closet. Of course later we (my sister and I) would be made to clean those out as well.
As for today I will put off vacuuming as long as I can. However, a few months ago I bought myself a Dyson–and I love it!! I would rather do the vacuuming myself so that no one has the chance to brake it. For those of you without one, I highly reccommend them!
Kim on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:12 am #
Add another one to “hates the dishes”. To be fair to my mom she didn’t ask me to do them all that often. Only occasionally when she was tired from work. I remember using 1/2 a bottle of Dawn at a time. LOL. I do have to give my mom props. She was a single mom with three kids (the two oldest were boys. eek) She worked hard in an auto parts factory lifting dashes and bumbers, it was also piece rate so she had to work fast. Yet she came home every night, cleaned our house and made us a home cooked dinner. Most of the time she did all of the yard work too.
And um, I still hate doing dishes but I hate cleaning the bathroom more. Luckily my DH takes care of the bathroom. whew!
Julia London on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:14 am #
Meg, seriously, how does the Dyson hold up against dog hair? Will it suck dog hair off a carpet?
Sabrina Jeffries on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:16 am #
I don’t mind vacuuming, and I don’t mind dusting and laundry, and I used to even like cooking (although that too has become a chore) but I hate doing the dishes and cleaning–anything that requires me to touch chemicals and wet rags.
Count my mom as one of the sexist chore moms. My sister and I did the dishes EVERY NIGHT, while my brothers did mow the lawn occasionally. And I do mean, occasionally. I would have much rather have mowed the lawn. The irony is that my sister and I became complete slobs, while one of my brothers is really into cooking and cleaning. The other brother had a wife to do it all before his divorce, then had to learn to cook. Not sure what has happened with the cleaning part. I’m curious. *G* He’s such a fanatic about cleanliness that he probably had to learn that, too.
Me, I’m not a fanatic. At all.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:17 am #
Well, let me tell you all where the idea for this blog came from. And apologies in advance!
The kids were home for Sunday dinner, as usual, and they fell into doing the chores that were assigned to them when they lived at home. One emptied the dishwasher. One took out the trash. One lifted the heavy Snapple carton from BJs out of the car and into the fridge…and it struck me how I was stuck with all these jobs again and how much I missed the free labor!
Take out the trash? Me?!
Why do *I* have to empty the dishwasher every morning? Isn’t there some kid to do that chore?
Haul the recycler down to the street? It’s heavy!
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:18 am #
Ears wide open on the Dyson discussion. I live ankle deep in pet hair.
Meg on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:36 am #
Julia and Claudia, you would be amazed at the amount of dog hair that comes out of my carpet! I have three miniature short-haired dachshunds. You wouldn’t think that they would shed that much. I didn’t think they would shed that much! But every week there is a ton that comes out.
The first time I used it, I was amazed! I could immediately tell that the carpet under my feet was softer.
Meg on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:47 am #
Oh My Gosh! I completely forgot about the trash! I HATE it. That is so a man’s job.
At the last house I lived in (for 5 1/2 yrs), I had trash pick-up. At the house I lived in before that (for 1 1/2 yrs), I had trash pick-up–and that wasn’t even in the city limits. I moved last year to my new home about one mile out of the city limits and I don’t have trash pick-up! It’s a travesty!!
Julia London on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:48 am #
Reaaaaaallly??? Dog hair off carpet???
God, I am practically salivating here.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:56 am #
Meg, is Dyson the one that doesn’t use bags, the gunk just goes into a container that gets dumped out?
Meg on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:05 am #
That’s the one; though there are several now that don’t use bags. They have a commercial where a guy with an accent is talking about it’s the only vacuum that doesn’t loose suction. Oh, and most of them are yellow but I have seen a purple one.
Susan K on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:09 am #
The purple Dyson is made specifically to tackle that dang pet hair. My mom has one and she swears by it! I want one as well. It’s on my bridal registry.
RachelG on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:13 am #
Growing up, my sisters and I did all the chores. My brothers . . . fed the dog. Yeah, I’m still bitter. I hate doing the dishes after dinner.
LOVE my Dyson. I have the yellow one on a roller ball. Sucking up spiders is icky. I’m always afraid they’ll jump out of the canister at me when I empty it.
rachelg
Karen Hawkins on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:42 am #
I used to hate doing the dishes. In addition to me and my brother and sister and parents, we had between five to ten other kids living with us at any given time — foster kids and/or exchange students, so the dishes were a BIG deal. Now, it seems soooooo easy and I actually enjoy it. Of course, some of that is my Procrastination Gene kicking in. My house is never cleaner than deadline week.
I love my Dyson, too! I have the same one Rachel does, and it sucks up the pet hair darn well. Don’t know what’s different about the purple pet one, but I’m sticking with the yellow roller ball one because it gliiiiiides and I love that.
PJ on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:52 am #
Ok, I am definitely checking out the Dyson!
cail on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:55 am #
the thing i hated the most was taking out the compost. partially decaying food in a bucket going to a big pile of decaying food is not a fun chore.
the whole family cleared the table, except for the cook.
we each made our beds in the morning, and the cleaning lady came once a week and vacuumed. We had to tidy our rooms before she arrived.
everyone took turns mowing and weeding.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:01 pm #
I’m going to check out the Dyson, too! It sounds like a double thumbs up. How often does it happen that everyone loves the same thing?
Swiffer!! LOL
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:04 pm #
I have to say that, as the oldest of two girls, I did all the “boy” jobs, too. Any heavy lifting, the lawn moving (with a rotary mower!), the trash cans to the curb, etc. I don’t know why, but it never got to me. I think because the jobs weren’t divided by gender, that would really get to me.
zambonigirl on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:06 pm #
I remember I used to have to do the dishes. I would stand on a chair over the sink, washing and scrubbing like Cinderella, crying that I would NEVER make MY daughter wash dishes, sob, cry, choke. Then I realized at some point that if I didn’t force my children to do the chores, I’d have to do them myself.
Oh-and I finally bought “To Bed A Beauty” this weekend. Loving it so far, Nicole!
Freedom Writer on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:14 pm #
Meg, Claudia and Julia, I too have a Dyson for my DH to use. It is the purple one, and since I trump Meg’s three miniature short-haired dachshunds with too shedding Newfoundlands, I can verify that the Dyson does a good job on the dog hair.
As a teenager, dishes were literally a pain in the back for everyone except my mother. My mom is 5′1.5″ tall so when my parents built the house I grew up in, and now own, my mom had the kitchen cabinets build lower than normal cabinets. And with a husband who was 6′5″ and children who took after him in the height department, she ended up being the only one who could comfortably do the dishes at the lower sink. Since I now own the house I have promised myself to raise the cabinets someday and get a dish washer to replace DH.
evlqn on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:30 pm #
I never minded doing the dishes but I hated to dry them,still do. Thank goddess for dishwashers. I had the sexist parents also, I think they all sprang from the same source. I come from a large family,78 first cousins. Our grandparents owned a truckstop in Colorado and all the grandkids did two weeks every summer helping out. The girls at the house and in the cafe, the boys in the fields and at the station. The only thing no one except grandpa did was make the donuts.
I hate vacuuming also but that is not much of an issue at our house anymore. We removed all the carpets and painted the floors, the living room and hallway look the travertine marble and the kitchen is green marble. All we have to vacuum is a couple of area rugs and since we lost Tanner there isn’t much pet hair.
Since I only had boys they had to do all the chores. It’s a good thing too because thier dad could only identify the kitchen by sayso.
Nicole Jordan on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:56 pm #
I agree about the sexist chores! It ain’t fair, lol. My sis and I always had to do the dishes and household chores when I would much rather have done outdoor stuff. Vacuuming was probably one of my least fave. And scrubbing the tub.
And thanks bunches, Zamboni, for picking up TBAB! Hope it holds up for you!
Julia London on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:01 pm #
Freedom, you have Newfoundlands? Do you live in a gym or something? I love those dogs — they’re beautiful and friendly and…and I think would require a house the size of Taj Mahal.
If Dyson will suck up that dog hair, I am definitely in!!
anneriailin on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:02 pm #
I don’t mind doing the dishes. What I really HATE though is cleaning the bathroom! But since I do like a clean bathroom I do it but I grumble the whole time.
My mother wasn’t the sexist type and made sure both of my brothers knew how to do dishes, cook and iron! Both my boys know how to do dishes, cook and do laundry. They can even vacuum in a pinch.
–dorothy
SnikyWhite on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:03 pm #
Hands down, I hated doing the dishes. I started doing them when I was 7 and have been doing them ever since. For extra fun, if my sister or I would miss a spot on a dish, be it big or small, my dad would take every dish from every cupboard and make us do them all. To this day I hate doing my dishes and use paper plates at EVERY possible opportunity.
krystal on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:19 pm #
I was pretty spoiled rotten, so I never really had any chores that I had to do as a kid. My mom would have us pitch in every once in a while to help dry dishes or help do laundry or to vacuum the house. I never really minded doing any of these when I was younger.
Now that I live on my own, I hate doing dishes. I hate it with a passion. I would much rather clean the toliet than do dishes. (Luckily, I have a boyfriend who would also rather do dishes than cook, so yea me.)
Another job that I absolutely hate is cleaning the cat’s litter box. It grosses me out and personally, I can’t wait to have kids so that I can eventually pass the responsibility on to them. (boyfriend seems to hate this job as much as I do, so I can’t really pawn it off on him like I do the dishes.)
Freedom Writer on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:24 pm #
Julia, my house is good size. Belle, my female doesn’t need too much space. She is a lap dog. Whenever she gets scared she jumps in my lap, all 112 lbs. of her. It’s a good thing that Thunder isn’t a lap dog. He weighs about 140 lbs.
And as the announcer for the Westminster Dog Show said, “We all know as dog people, that fur is a condiment.”
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:39 pm #
LOL Freedom Writer! My first born’s first “solid” food was a hair ball he found behind a chair in the family room. He didn’t even gag getting it down.
I suppose if I’d had a Dyson then, there wouldn’t have been a hairball!
So what’s the difference between the yellow and the purple Dyson? Anyone know?
Gannon on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:44 pm #
As a kid, I hated doing the dishes–back before we had a dishwasher! Now, my least favorite job is cleaning the bathrooms….followed by everything else! Oh well, that’s why I have slaves, um, I mean children!
Kathy/Cookiedough on 10 Mar 2008 at 1:52 pm #
I used to follow the cleaning lady around like a puppy when I was little and helped her clean.
I hate to dust now.
it’s only when other people make comments or I have compnay coming, do I pull out the swiffer and do it!
I like doing the dishes, but hate putting them away.
my job as a teen was to wash the dishes and hated that my brother got to do “guy” things like mow the lawn. I know better now! haha !
it was a push mower.
Susan K on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:10 pm #
Claudia- The purple Dyson is made specifically for pet hair.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:10 pm #
Kathy, I used to follow the pool man around! He was such a fixture in my young life that I invited him to my wedding; of course, I ended up introducing him to everyone by saying, “This is Don, the poolman!” He didn’t seem to mind. I still can’t remember his last name. LOL
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:14 pm #
Thanks, SusanK, the purple Dyson is going on my wish list. I’m so glad we had this Dyson talk today! I love hearing about new and improved ways to make cleaning less of a chore.
I’ll never forget the moment when I decided that I was NOT going to wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I felt like such a rebel! If they don’t get clean enough, they just stay in for a second cycle. My mother’s idea was that you wash dishes to get them clean and then you use the dishwasher to sterilize them. I broke the tradition. Scandalous, that’s me.
Nicole Jordan on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:19 pm #
Love the fur condiment line, Free!
Oh, and for all you haters of dishwashing and chemicals… I was very fortunate that my mom believed in Playtex rubber gloves. Wore them religiously for wet work, and still do.
Kasey on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:29 pm #
Dishes, definitely, dishes. I still hate them to this day. I was going to get a dishwasher immediately upon moving out of my parents house, but the apartment I am living in right now does not have them so I have resigned myself to doing dishes still. I still hate them but it was much worse when I was a kid.
KariE on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:40 pm #
Claudia- I wash my dishes before they go in the washer. I never realized I did it untill I just read what you wrote. I have a hard time believing that the washer can get off the food that is stuck on there. I’m talking about food that is so stuck that I have to soak it in hot water and baking soda to get it off (FYI-soaking soiled dishes in water and baking soda works amazingly well). A good pre-scrub never hurt anything. I have to agree with your mom, though, I mostly use the dish washer for sterilizing them.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:42 pm #
Of all the chores that I hated as kid and the one my mom NEVER made me do was cooking. I am still grateful to her for that. I just don’t like to cook and she never made me. I *can* cook, which is a vital skill to have, but it was never one of my chores. I’ve heard of parents who make their kids cook a meal a week for the family. I’d have run away from home!
Doing the dishes seems to be a favorite in the “I Hate” category. I don’t mind them. Washing is better than drying, though. Drying is so tedious!
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:44 pm #
Kari, you and my mom have a lot in common! LOL And I mean that in a good way.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 2:46 pm #
Nicole, I’ve tried rubber gloves over and over during the course of my life. I never can get used to them. I love how they protect my hands, but I hate the way my fingers get pruny in them. And the insides stay moist for so long, it just gives me the creeps. I wish I had developed the habit before all the phobias set in.
ct009ct on 10 Mar 2008 at 3:08 pm #
My mom was and is sexist about many things, thankfully chores wasn’t one of them. She was ageist about chores. Since I am 4 yrs older than my twin brothers and 5 yrs older than my sister, guess who did most of the chores. We all had to keep our rooms clean ourselves, but big stuff like cleaning the kitchen (there was no such thing as just dishes at our house) or bathrooms was considered chores once you hit 13. So they did do their share, but there were 3 of them to split the work.
My daughter and son were taught there is no such thing as woman’s or man’s chores. Work is work. They can both cook, clean, do laundry, mow the lawn, move the fridge, rake the leaves and when we were stationed in cold climates, shovel snow. My daughter-in-law and son-in-law both appreciate it.
ct009ct on 10 Mar 2008 at 3:10 pm #
Kari, when I had a dishwasher, I also pre-washed my dishes. I just never trusted the dishwasher to get them clean enough. Still don’t.
Ann in IL on 10 Mar 2008 at 3:33 pm #
Dishes. I will put them off and do A N Y T H I N G else.
There were 6 boys and 2 girls (my sis is 10 yrs younger) in my family. I have had to do dishes and clean since I was old enough to walk. My Dad would survey what needed to be done, and then lock the back door til everything was finished. Believe me, you better not go out until every chore was finished to suit him or there was TROUBLE.
All dishes, cookware and utinsels should be disposable.
I’d much rather do laundry and iron all day.
Nicole Jordan on 10 Mar 2008 at 3:33 pm #
I always rinse my dishes first, too! Even though we now finally have a dishwasher that will get off most dried on stuff.
And Claudia, I hate that clammy feeling inside rubber gloves, lol. But you can try dusting the inside with baby powder. That’ll really help.
Paula M on 10 Mar 2008 at 4:03 pm #
This is an amazing blog, I also as a child had my ‘duties’ to do to earn pocket money and one of the many was to wah the dishes and yes I still don’t like doing them now. I would much rather mow the lawn!! We also had to keep our rooms tidy, sunday after tea was tidy up your room time as my mum also had a cleaner come in and we had to tidy up before she came. I am like my mum and my boys (4 &7)have ‘jobs’ to do to earn pocket money. They have to do things like clearing the breakfast table, one clears the cereals and the other puts the milk and juice in the fridge. Doeas that make me cruel??
Claudia and Julia I have a dyson it is a purple one and it is fantastic. It broke down in January and I paid £ 65 for a man to come and look at it and included in that he would get it working again and YES he did, it now has a new motor and filter all for £65!! Bargain. The dyson website is : http://www.dyson.co.uk. If you go on there it will tell you all about them. Cont..
Paula M on 10 Mar 2008 at 4:04 pm #
I LOVE my dyson. The first time I used it after the man repaired it I thought it was going to suck up the carpet!!LOL! They are fantastic machines.
Kim on 10 Mar 2008 at 4:14 pm #
I would kill for a Dyson! My sister in laws have one AND two ginormous Golden Retrievers. Their house is spotless. You can’t tell they have two hairy beasts living there. I swear everyday I sweep up enough pet hair to make another full size pet. Soooo gross. Does hair gross anybody else out?
Seriously? Girls take out the trash? I thought you had to have testoserone for that.
Audrey on 10 Mar 2008 at 4:45 pm #
We didn’t have sexist chores because we had no brothers, so as the oldest I got to do outside stuff with Dad. I didn’t mind that at all. Out of all the other stuff, I must not have minded cleaning my room because it was always spotless without being nagged. I hated cleaning shoes. It was back in the day when they all had to be washed and then polished.
The job I hate now is picking stuff up. Just putting away all the crap that accumulates and makes a house look dirty even when it’s clean.
Um, do you want to hear a gross story that will make you even more suspicious of your dishwasher? My sister had a new house and noticed that there was something wrong with the plumbing. When it got fixed, the guy told them sewer water had been backing up into their sinks and dishwasher so for two months, they’d been using dishes they thought were clean, but…..
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 5:12 pm #
Kim, when you’re the oldest and there are only girls, you get to have testosterone. In fact, my DH still says that I have more testosterone than most women, which just *has* to be a compliment, don’t you think?
Audrey, I hear you. Stuff and more stuff. How does it get into the house? Oh, yeah. I carry it in! When I look around and see all the stuff, everywhere, even in the linen cupboard, the pantry, the refrigerator, and think that I carried it in, bag by bag. Ugh.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 5:13 pm #
Paula, thank you for the Dyson connection! I’m almost afraid to look. Are they very expensive?
colinfirthfan on 10 Mar 2008 at 5:13 pm #
Hate doing the dishes and putting away the laundry.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 5:21 pm #
Audrey, I’m not even going to comment on the plumbing line problems in the new house. I can’t let my mind go there.
Fingers in ears….lalalalalalalala!
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 5:24 pm #
Anyone who knows me well (like everyone on this blog) knows that I LOVE doing laundry. I don’t know why, maybe because I *never* had to do laundry as a child? That’s the pattern I’m seeing, that whatever we were forced to do as kids we hate to do now (except that I never had to cook and I still hate it). But even though I love doing the laundry, I don’t like putting it away. What’s with that? Why not?
I can’t figure it out…unless it was because I had to put my laundry away as a teen.
The pattern holds.
Judy F on 10 Mar 2008 at 5:34 pm #
My mom made us wash the dishes too. I think the boys only had to keep their rooms up but mom did anything else for them. Me and my sister had to help clean the rest of the house.
Karen Rose on 10 Mar 2008 at 6:01 pm #
I used to have to clean my room. My mom did most of the chores, now that I think about it. Thanks, Mom
Do you all really dust? I mean, really? Everything gets dusty so fast you could just lie and say you did.
Now, I hate cleaning the cat box. I’d rather clean toilets.
Kim on 10 Mar 2008 at 6:06 pm #
Claudia–I don’t think the Dyson’s are too terribly expensive. Do you have a Sam’s Club membership? I believe they carry them.
Karen–I HATE cleaning the cat box. bleech. Although our big cat won’t use it anymore. He doesn’t want to share with Max. So now Sheriff goes to the door, cries to go out, does his business and comes back in. Just like the dogs. LOL. Sometimes he goes out with the two dogs and they all potty together. Now, that’s a considerate cat!
DebMarlowe on 10 Mar 2008 at 6:07 pm #
I’m still in the process of training my ‘helpers’ but they grumble. I’m going to remember the ‘functional adult’ line!
I’ll do dishes ’till the cows come home, but I HATE laundry! Yuck. elsiehogarth, you can come iron at my house! I make my dh do the ironing when I can.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 6:21 pm #
Kim, I’ve always had a cat and they’ve always gone out to do the do. No other way am I doing cats. Litter boxes are not on the menu!
DebMarlowe, use the ‘functional adult’ line with my blessing. It really worked. The kids got the idea that I wasn’t trying to punish them or take advantage of them, but trying to prepare them for the future. My daughter can change her oil and her plugs because of this philosophy! Not that I can do anything other than put gas in my car, but that’s another blog. *G*
Judy F on 10 Mar 2008 at 6:41 pm #
I don’t care to clean the litter box either. Seems pointless most days cause the moment I clean it Sammy had to use it. grrr.
I hated having to cut the grass, we have a huge hill and had to use spikes to cut it. Plus I am allergic to fresh cut grass, so that was fun.
Judy F on 10 Mar 2008 at 6:43 pm #
another thing my dad taught us how to repair just about anything or tackle any project. Many of times we have painted, pulled out bushes, fixed vcr’s etc.
Sabrina Jeffries on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:33 pm #
Count me as another one who hates rubber gloves, not only because of the clammy feeling, but because it’s hard for me to get them on and off. My hands are large and they just don’t fit well.
Claudia, my mom had me cook often when I was a teen, but I didn’t mind it at all. I only started minding cooking a few years ago. Fortunately, hubby doesn’t mind doing dishes, so he does most of those. *G*
doglady on 10 Mar 2008 at 8:39 pm #
Nicole, TBAB definitely holds up. I loved it!
My Mom is a career housewife, old fashioned Southern belle, but! she taught both of her sons how to cook, clean, wash clothes and iron. When they were teens and need clean clothes for dates of uniforms for sports she took them downstairs, introduced them to the washer and dryer, had laminated instructions hanging up over them and told them “Have fun!” Of course from a young age we learned that clothes that were not put in the laundry hamper did not get washed. My father would say “Your mother is NOT the maid.” Didn’t matter if you had to wear dirty drawers to school she did not wash it unless you put it in the laundry hamper. My sisters in law think my mother is a saint because she tells my brothers “She works for a living. You know how to do that. Help her out.” Southern Mamas don’t even entertain the possibility their sons won’t do what they say.
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 8:39 pm #
JudyF, I was brought up with the philosophy that you don’t pay someone to do what you can physically do yourself. My mother didn’t do exterior windows, that was about it. My dad didn’t work on the car or paint the outside of the house. I thought everyone was raised like that until I was talking to a woman once who was asking about a painter and I realized with a shock she wanted someone to paint a room in her house. I’m still in shock over that. LOL
Claudia Dain on 10 Mar 2008 at 8:43 pm #
Your mom ROCKS, Doglady. That’s the way it should be. My mom had a hamper, too, and those were the only clothes that got washed. She did the laundry every single day.
The chore my dad did every single day was to polish his shoes. Every day. If we wanted him to polish our shoes, all we had to do was leave them in his bathroom. That man thought it was the tackiest thing in the world to have scuffed shoes.
Cameron on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:36 pm #
I hated (and still hate) cleaning the tub. It’s so big and slippery and hard to reach certain spots. And it’s impossible to leave it spot free because there’s water everywhere.
Secondly, I hate mopping (because you have to move household items around and sweep first. And then you can’t walk on the floor for half an hour.)
Claudia Dain on 12 Mar 2008 at 9:34 am #
Cameron, this is way late, but I can’t stand either of those jobs either. I have to get *in* the tub to clean it. Ugh. I also hate mopping, the hardest thing on my back EVER. Plus, the floors get dirty so fast! Seems hardly worth it.