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A few months ago I asked Son #1 to put some dirty plates in
the dishwasher. His response was along
the lines of, ‘Isn’t dish washing your job? You know… you’re the mum around here.’
Well, let me tell you, that child got the ear-bashing of his
life. Spilling from my mouth were phrases like: who do you think you are; where
did you get this highly-developed sense of entitlement; and I’ll show you who’s
mum around here…
The cheek! I should have filled the sink with suds and made
him do the dishes by hand if he thought he was hardly done by.
Actually I should have just said, ‘No, son. That’s your
father’s job or it was, until we got
the dishwasher!’
I don’t want him to grow up with that attitude of domestic
duties being only for females. I’m not even sure how he would even think that
way, especially as Jason does take on quite a few domestic chores at the Sow’s
Ear?
One of Jason’s many
shirtless domestic duties is hand washing the larger pots and trays and then making
sure the dishwasher has a Finish tablet in it before switching it on.
Anyway, I was pretty cranky with Son #1. The man-child has
never known a life BD (before dishwasher), where a sink load of washing up and a
drainer full of drying up was the nightly ritual. Not that I really want to go
back to that time because hand washing dishes is a time suck. Life AD (after
dishwasher) is so much better.
Our older boys now have
to pack and unpack the dishwasher as a daily chore, to teach them they
can’t be lazy gits and that it’s men’s work. It is also an easy task they can
take on at a young age.
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| Fisher & Paykel Dishdrawer Dishwasher series |
Speaking of easy tasks, I still like the cool Fisher & Paykel DishDrawer dishwasher series. I was told the definition of luxury is the
absence of difficulties, so those DishDrawer dishwashers seem very luxurious to
me.
They’re a great option for smaller kitchens and apartment
living, where space is at a premium – there’s no excuse to go without a
dishwasher in small spaces. The DishDrawer dishwasher requires less movement to
open, load and close and you don’t even need to bend. Fisher & Paykel are
trying to make dish washing even easier by increasing the height of the drawer
to allow for even larger plates and platters.
I wonder if we had one of those, whether I’d still get
resistance from the boys about dish washer duty...
So, do you agree that dish washing ought to be men’s work?
So, do you agree that dish washing ought to be men’s work?
I grew up with a dad who had very strictly defined ideas about what was woman's work. Basically, anything indoors was woman's work. I rejected that notion as soon as I left home in the 60s. Luckily for the men who later came into my life, not one of them was ever foolhardy enough to suggest to me that household chores were exclusively mine. :)
ReplyDeleteThank goodness you met some smart men, Dana! It's such an antiquated idea this men's work and women's work.xx
DeleteI met a couple of smart ones and browbeat the rest...haha!!
DeleteHaving grown up on a farm, it's a funny notion, who does what? I suppose the important thing is that kids grow up knowing that everyone should pitch in to help out. I actually do the bulk of the washing up, but Kate does the bulk (read all less BBQ) of the cooking. I mow the lawns, Kate makes skirts for the girls. We all like to garden together. It all works out in the end. Cheers, Col
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm sure Kate would do a grand job of mowing the lawn, but my skirts would look sh_te... ;-)
Ha! Good one Col. I'm sure you might have some hidden sewing talent...Jason mends and sews much better than me...much neater stitches! xx
DeleteAhh - I hear your frustration. ! I have three sons and was determined to make sure all they knew how to wash the dishes and took their turn. I banished the dishwasher to the shed and set up the rotating roster. We struggled on with this chore (lots of procrastinating and excuses and healthy family discussions!!!). As soon as they left home and lived in share houses with mates that knowledge seem to disappear!!! LOL Think they learnt the hard way what happens when you don't do the dishes. I figured that it was their call by then. They were also good cooks but I'm sure they frequently lived on junk food during early Uni days.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon. I'm fearful at how pampered my boys are becoming! The moaning and procrastination I get around here you would think I was asking them to climb Everest! But you're right, when they get their own place they will learn the hard way! xx
DeleteI hate to admit this, but my DAUGHTERS have said the same thing to ME!
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Once your kitchen is done, put them to work Kylie. xx
DeleteHow very dare he! Mine have learnt to curb such comments since feeling the schmack of my cranky tongue but still haven't worked out how to pack a dishwasher properly. Indeed even the husband with all his tidy genes is a slack packer of the d.w. We got an integrated one so it doesn't look like there is a dishwasher at all just another cupboard. I quite like the idea of my boys learning to actually wash up. It was a pleasantly social thing. Old Bob next door boasted the "first one" in 1950's Brisbane. It looked like a spaceship but he couldn't get his four boys to use it so after warning them to no avail, he gutted the thing and had the funkiest kitchen bench in the Western Suburbs for the next fifty years.
ReplyDeleteLove living in AD times. Although wished my 1 year old would stop 'helping' me load/ unload dishes for another 2 years at least.
ReplyDelete