When you’re a parent people just looooove to give you advice and bestow their most sage words of wisdom upon you.
“Sleep when the baby sleeps.”
And when, pray tell, would I shower or actually eat?
“Enjoy every moment!”
Ummm…NO. That moment when my toddler had a complete breakdown in the cereal aisle at the grocery store and I thought I was going to need to call in an exorcist? Yeah, no. Not gonna enjoy that moment.
And then there’s my personal favorite…
“Soak up your babies…the housework can wait.”
I understand this sentiment and in theory it is lovely and true. I mean, there isn’t a parent out there who would ever disagree with the fact that quality time and simply being present with your children is far more important than having sparkling kitchen floors. That said, I hate when people say that, because in reality, it isn’t really true.
Of course there are all of those deep cleaning things like cleaning the outside windows and vacuuming out vents and wiping out the inside of drawers that can obviously wait. I can’t tell you the last time I truly cleaned out my pantry or refrigerator, and while the toilets and countertops in the bathroom are regularly cleaned, the mirror has a pretty decent layer of toothpaste residue and water spots on it. I am not one of those Monica Gellar types who needs to have everything spotless.
BUT…
The dishes? Those can’t wait. In a house with five people in it, I run the dishwasher on a daily basis. Between the kid plates, little spoons and sippy cups with 97 pieces, the sink fills up pretty quickly. If I don’t stay on top of the dishes, the kitchen is a disaster by the time dinner rolls around and it’s terribly difficult trying to work around a mess. If the countertop is covered in dishes, where am I supposed to do food prep? Besides that, if I put off dishes for an entire day, I am then relegated to spending my precious alone time once the kids are in bed doing them and it takes far longer since everything is crusted on by that point. Total nightmare.