Reason 832 why I should never be a stay-at-home mom: dishes.
No, I don't actually have this list. Although maybe some day I will write one so I have something to look at on bad days at work or each time I look at my paycheck and realize just how much of it goes straight to daycare.
The thing with dishes is that you have to do them every. single. day. Cooking dinner gets to me for the same reason, but this week I don't mind it as much because I found some fun food at the grocery store. And at least you get to eat as a result of cooking. What does doing dishes get you? A counter that is clean for 3.2 seconds. And, seriously, how do 2 people make so many dishes and why can't most of them go in the dishwasher?
This is one of the stupid little things about solo parenting that really gets to me. It is dumb. It takes half an hour a day. But I can power through getting us out the door in the morning complete with lunches packed, a full day at work, making dinner, getting Nicholas ready for bed, doing the couple hours of schoolwork that are inevitably left for the evening, dealing with bills and paperwork and whatever else has accumulated. And then, just as I am relishing the idea of being done for the night, always an hour later than I'd planned, I remember. The stupid dishes. Every. single night. They are my nemesis.
The ironic thing is that in the grand scheme of things they are actually incredibly minor and a tiny speck in the chaos of my life. But I can despise and resent them without guilt. They are not something I need to be grateful for, nor something that I love underneath it all, nor something that I chose. They are free to absorb my stress and frustration.
And what started as a silly post about how I'd be an awful stay-at-home mom has apprently turned into an analytical voyage into my psyche. But one that was as therapeutic as breaking a glass would be. And with much less mess.
I had a nice relaxing dish-washing this evening. Helps that I only have to do it once a week! :)
ReplyDeleteThere are two reasons why I hate the dishes:
ReplyDelete1. They pile up seemingly disproportionately to the way you use them. Make a bowl of pasta? Not only do you have to toss the bowl and fork in the dishwasher, you have to handwash a pot, colander, and stirring spoon. And as you note you do dishes for meals that weren't even eaten at home with lunch tupperware.
2. You clean them only so that they can be made dirty again. This happens a little with laundry too, but you get to wear clothes for a day (or more) and only have to wash them weekly. Some of the dishes you wash tonight will already be sitting to be cleaned again by the time you leave in the morning. To boot, it takes as long or longer to clean them than you get to use them -- there are dishes drying right now that will already be dirty again by the time you leave in the morning and all you will have done is eaten a bowl of Cheerios.
All of which is to say that I sympathize from afar, and will be doing all of the dishes this weekend.