Strollerderby : housecleaning

Mom: Laws Turn Mary Poppins Into Marxist Robot

Madeline Holler — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:49:00 GMT

It’s just fun, fun, fun reading about bad nannies, and this little piece from the U.K. certainly delights!

A mother illustrates how rules imposed by the EU have changed the quality of service one gets from nannies these days. Back when she was a kid, it was all hard work and dedication, warm kisses and fun. Now, it’s about accommodating wretched French girls with nary an interest in the host- country’s culture.

Au pairs in Europe are protected by European Union rules, which limit the number of hours nannies may be expected to work, how late, the type of work employers can expect them to do and the minimum amount nannies should earn in pay. The rules also stipulate he number of paid holidays and which ones.

This particular family’s au pair stopped working promptly at 7 p.m. (as is her right), checked her email at will, talked with her boyfriend in Canada on the family’s phone, complained about the local cheddar cheese and laughed at the family’s favorite rugby team. The nerve!

Sure, she played with the kids, but she refused to “clean bottoms” and turned away in disgust when the little ones refused to use forks and threw food on the floor.
This particular nanny lasted only a few weeks (long enough to go on vacation with them -- work it, girl!), just long enough for this woman to claim her home had been turned into a Marxist state. Those bread lines must have been a bitch.

Study Confirms What I've Been Saying For Years: Housework Is Bad For You

Kelly Mills — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:25:00 GMT

I'm wading through the dust bunnies and the piles of stuffed animals and jackets and assorted crap to tell you that housework might just mess with your health. Scientists even think so. They said exposure to cleaning sprays and air fresheners even just once a week could increase your risk of adult asthma. Which means you might want to leave an extra big tip for your cleaning person if you have one, because he or she is screwed.

And let me tell you why else housework is bad: Your clean house just makes some of us feel serious envy. I believe a clean house is a thing of beauty, my biggest wet dream. But with two working parents, we rarely achieve a level of hygiene that would get us past the local health inspector. There's often good intentions of picking up nightly and establishing some kind of routine, but more often we just get to it when the filth level makes one of us (me) fly into a rage, or if we are having guests over and want to maintain the fiction that we dust. When I go to someone's house and I see clean laundry still sitting in baskets, I think, "Whew, I'm not the only one." And when I enter a spotless house, I hang my head a little bit. I guess I should just be grateful I can still breathe.

Delusional Park Slope Parent Seeks Nanny/Saint

Madeline Holler — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:34:00 GMT

I’ve never had to hire a nanny. I stash my kids in the cheapest kiddie farm that minimally passes health inspections. So maybe I don’t really understand what it’s like to open my home and life to a stranger, who will spend a seemingly endless amount of time with my kids, doing the bulk of the drudgery so I don’t have to.

Still, I feel comfortable in saying that the requirements laid out in this ad for a Park Slope nanny will be met only by liars or those with hands bearing scars from stigmata.

Let’s unpack the ad:

Busy young couple … active, energetic nanny … three-month-old. Got it. Fluent in English … 1-2 year commitment … experience with family from newborn to elementary school a plus. They’re dreaming, but fine. They outline a four-day week, 12-hour days plus one weekend night per month. Next come the delusions/cries for help.

Experience with and/or support of exclusive breastfeeding and pumping is a requirement. I am imagining, here, a nanny being non-“supportive.” Pointing and laughing while she nurses? Making mom pump in the bathroom? Then: Interest in learning EC (elimination communication/ infant potty training) is a requirement. Experience with EC is a significant plus. Riiiight. No mention of combat pay, which is surely a requirement for holding a bowl under someone else’s naked three-month-old while he blasts one out.

Now, as if a diaper-less kid pissing all over the floor isn’t enough, there’s also the duty of preparing his meals, cleaning up after him, handling his laundry … AND … just maintaining the home's existing neatness and running occasional household errands ... But if the parents can’t do it (they can’t, right?), how should the nanny be able to?

Finally … must be willing to travel with the child … by public transportation … Is that with our without diapers? With or without the dry-cleaning? With or without maintaining the train’s existing neatness?

All that and more, plus you’re not even allowed to smoke! (But the ad says nothing about drinking on the job.)

Strollerderby Playdate: Chores and Wars

Kelly Mills — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:02:00 GMT

People sometimes accuse blogs of covering only the most mundane stuff, like, "Then I went to the laundromat and I ran out of quarters" and of course, some of them are really like that. But power parent bloggers know there's funnies in the laundry. And the plumbing. And the power struggles over chores. Play with these folks and see.

White Trash Mom has a nine-year old's guide to blaming your sister for a mess.

Wiping Up Snot had plans for the splash park--and then got her own, right at home!

Adventures in Babywearing knows sometimes calling the yarn store constitutes an emergency.

The Queen of Shake-Shake uses laundry as an opportunity to teach her husband about the difference between boys and girls.

Three Kid Circus lives for grocery day.

Secret to Happy Marriage? Shockingly NOT Children

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:16:00 GMT

With all the fuss made about kids completing a couple's relationship or bringing a sense of purpose and focus to marriage, it should probably come as no surprise that it is in fact shared housework that makes the difference between "peh" marriages and those filled with joy (or at least minimal resentment).

Of course, once you have kids the amount of cooking, cleaning, and toilet cleaning goes up dramatically. Cutesy little jokes about socks on the floor aren't delivered with the same deadly angry seriousness that stepping on a small sharp Lego at 2am evokes.

Also important? A good sex life, shared interests, and a nice house. In other news, women don't like being told they have a fat ass.

[photo credit: Daily Mail]