Can you see all that shameful mess in the background of this picture? That's fairly typical of my house
I'm a working mum of 2. I don't have much time. Please tell my mother in law. You see for me, the markers of dirt and mess are as follows:
- The carpet is crunchy underfoot
- You can't turn the hand towels around anymore to find a clean side
- There are no seats left on the sofa
- There's no work surface clear to put down a cup of tea
- I have been struck on the head by an avalanche of paper/ toys/ beakers as they falls off the shelf
- The front door won't open due to the sheer numbers of pizza/ Indian/ Chinese/ Thai takeaway menus and bin bags for un- reputable charities
- There is more food on the kitchen floor than on the dinner plates
Actually now I feel a bit ashamed, I'm not dirty, honestly. It's simply a case of priorities, I prefer to play with my kids and do stuff rather than tidy up like a Stepford wife.
Anyhow, the mother in law has other ideas about my standards and simply feels it is her duty to come around and fiddle with my laundry, re-organise and clean. I know this sounds good on the face of it, but I can't help but feel a little bit intruded upon. I still can't look her straight in the eye after she 'sorted out' my comfortable knickers. The humiliation! I think that she feels that I am not a good enough wife, mother and domestic goddess. There are little comments and now we are in the phase of unspoken words. I can't help but worry about all of it. But where exactly do we go from here? Anyone else have these sorts of issues?
Posts
10 comments:
My mother in law does exactly the same and last time she came round with a bucket full of cleaning products!!
I know that I'm not a tidy person but we don't need to eat off the floor do we?
BNMx
Don't worry about it. If she wants to spend her time cleaning your house let her. Its cheaper than a cleaner and you can carry on playing with the little people and have a tidy house. In fact buy her a pair of those rubber gloves with fluff round. x
She doesn't come to my house very often, and I clean like crazy before she comes,but I am a clutterbug and it still looks messy. I can see her looking around. She would never however get anywhere near my stuff, and it wouldn't be in her nature to clean my house.
Feeling your pain though.
P.S. YOUR KNICKERS???!!!!!! The woman must be stopped.
eeeek your house sounds like my house. The worst marker for me is if the bottom of George's socks get dirty from running around- arrrrrrgh the shame!!!! haha. If it's just fluff, I leave it. If it's proper dirt I get the mop out. hahaha I've got the giggles. This is like naughty confession time.
I've sometimes had to put the same washing to wash 3 times becasue I forgot to take it out the machine and it started smelling!!!!!
right, I'm going to stop now. I have no advice on Mother in Laws.... say no more. x
Thankfully my MIL comes round to see me and the kids and not to criticise. But she always does the washing up and cleans the kitchen because she would prefer to do it so i don't have to. It is a nice gesture but sorting out your knickers!!!! Hell NO!!!! I agree with George's mum she needs to be stopped!!!
I, too, am a working mum and have done so since my daughter was 6 weeks old. I'm far from a stepford wife but my only advice is get a cleaner. It's the best £16 a week I spend. She does 2 hours...ensures I'm not scrubbing loos on our precious weekends!
Cheers,
Chrissie (www.mediocremum.com)
Hi, I have a wonderful Mother-in-law who does not interfere, I am a Mother-in-law myself and it has been an eye opener,my desire is only to help my daughter-in-law,what is wrong with that,I do ask if there is anything that she would like me to do, to help. I realize that I must only give support, and what I do now is send light and love, this appears to work very,very well. Cheers Marie
my mum in law re-made my bed last time she was in the house alone... (and went through the wardrobe to see what she could iron). I empathise!! x
My mother-in-law doesn't do anything like this (it is usually hubby who sighs and humfs about the state of the house!). I must say given the state that our house gets in sometimes I think I could borrow your m-i-l for a while! Only jocking!
Just remember when you become a mother everyone has ideas and opinions about how you should be doing things - you just have to become thick skinned about it and carry on as best you can!
Post a Comment