Housewife Duties

So I was flipping channels a few days ago, and came across a promo of a new show called "Housewife Hai, Sab Janti Hai". (How creative, I tell you!) But what caught my attention was a line that the actress says at the end...."Subah se shaam hum busy hai, aur aapko lagta hai housewife banna easy hai?" Truer words have not been spoken (on TV shows, atleast). As a child, and even a young teen, I always wondered why all my friends' mothers would go to work and all mine would do was sit at home and "chill". Well, contrary to my opinion, that's not what she did. It's hard, really, running a house all by oneself and bringing up two children. My father, all through my growing up years, would work almost six days a week so he was hardly there, except to sign report cards or to fulfill the occasional scolding quota when the mother's screaming just wouldn't work (Once he shouted at me so hard that I cried for two hours and went without lunch-but that's a story for another day).

I did always wonder what my mother did all day, why she didn't have any responsibilities, why all she did was scold us when we angered her and reprimand us when we were wrong. I experienced the feeling of being a housewife a few years ago, however, when my parents went for a  5 week holiday to Europe leaving me to run the house. (And within a week, all I wanted to do was run away from it!) What probably made it easy for me was that I had my summer holidays going on, so I was at home practically all day long.

Wise words from a great actress! Image Credit: izquotes.com

 

The most difficult part of running a house? Keeping track of bills and expenses and telling the maid what to cook! By the fifth day, I ran out of ideas and would just repeat the week's menu for the rest of the duration. Making sure the maids and servants arrive on time, keeping a tab on what is to be done each day, paying everyone's salaries and shopping for groceries are just some of the things I had to do. The time I spent running the house made me realise how tough really, my mother's job was - a job she'd been carrying out for 22 years. It got harder for me the next year, when my parents went on their annual holiday in September for five weeks, and I had to handle the house as well as attend college and do all my work. (No one was happier than me on 8th October, when they were back and I was finally relinquished from "Housewife duties"!)

You'd think then, after this long rant of mine, is that I never want to be a housewife. Far from it. I see myself working for a few years, yes, but I have it set in my mind that once I have my children, I will either work from home, or give up work altogether. I don't want to miss my children's growing up years, and have them spend all their time with maids and drivers. And neither am I one of those feminists who feels a sense of independence in earning one's own money or guilt in spending one's partner's money.

 The money is, after all, to bring up children and run a house well. (Maybe I can splurge some on myself once in a while, though! :P)

So for all those who have homemakers for mothers, don't ever think too little of them. Moms are just so good at it that they make it seem easy, but take it from me, it's one of the most difficult jobs in the world- and you don't get paid for it either! :P

P.S. I know I haven't posted in a while- but it's my Xmas resolution to blog regularly from now on! :)