Labor of Love

As women, don't we all just love doing laundry, cooking dinner, washing dishes, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning toilets and taking out the trash? NOT! Most of the responsibilities of child rearing and managing our households falls right into our laps. And, does anyone notice? When was the last time your husband said, "Wow, Honey! These floors are so clean you could eat off of them!" You most likely cannot remember him ever saying that to you. Has your child ever thanked you profusely for hauling him/her around to all his/her sports and school related activities? Probably not. The truth of the matter is that, as women, we are expected to do all these things out of love for our families. That sounds awfully nice in theory. But, is it really fair that we have to juggle all of these tasks on our own? No. I personally think we can offer a lot of love to our families and also include them in some of the housework.
When I discussed this with a friend of mine, she looked at me like I was crazy. She said, "You know, it takes a lot less effort just to do it yourself. I tend to exert more energy trying to get my kids to help me out than I do when I just do things myself." For most of us, that is probably true. I simply think that if we could take on the challenge of re-programming our families to help us, then the rewards would be phenomenal. The outcome would be worth the effort.