Reply to Is "making dinner" part of your SAHM job description?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think the criticism and time management stuff from the sahms is fair. But if your kid is in daycare or you have a nanny, why are you even responding? You've never done it and you can't go back in time and do it.  Why is their daily laundry? Well, maybe at your house, laundry isn't done every day, because your nanny is doing your laundry for your child  on an as needed basis. In my house, I feed my child between 4 to 5 times per day, and pretty much after every feeding, he needs a change of clothes. Because he's a young child, and he's messy. Combined to that to your husband's daily clothes, my daily clothes, whatever sheets need to be changed out, whatever towels, hand towels, and kitchen towels need to be changed out, and I do a small to medium sized load of laundry every day, even for my small family.  Why isn't your dishwasher full at night? Because your child is being fed a daycare. All of the prep for the child's meals, the meals that you eat, the meals that your child eats, none of those dishes are generated at home. Like I said, I think that the stay at home moms have relevant criticisms. If you have outsourced your child care to a nanny, or to a daycare, you simply don't have any idea what you're talking about.[/quote]

But the point is.. These things don't equate to a day's worth of work. I WAH and can easily manage this before work, or in literally a few minutes during the day. It takes a minute or two to wipe down a bathroom and swish the toilets.clean counters are clean, so a quick wiped own is generally all that's needed.  I have A dog that poops her bed at night and can STILL manage several loads of laundry a day without it stressing me out. Dishes are done before work. So is showering, etc. I eat at home, plus make all other meals that need to go elsewhere that day (lunches, etc.) plus my own food for home.

Even so.. Let's call things as they are. Laundry is not a huge undertaking. I often end up with 5-6 loads a day and it does not break my labour budget. It literally takes a few moments to flip loads. Folding takes longer, but it can also wait. Dishes are not magic. Most kitchens have the cupboards above the dishwasher.. So basically you flip stuff up to the cupboard. What does it take if you actually time it? 2 minutes? Same with loading.

If your child needs a change of clothes after every feeding, five times a day, use a bib or tea towel. You are being a masochist and / or wasteful.

I make dinner every night. Sometimes I have a half hour to spare. Some times I don't. So learn how to make meals for time crunches. I can pp together a slow cooker meal with clients on the phone.. I imagine OP can do that with baby playing with pots in the kitchen. I preload my washer at night. I do things to make life more you fight things, the longer they take and the harder they seem.

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I'm happy for you that you can do all of this, PP, and hold down a full-time job. I think, however, that you exaggerate, or you are a hyper-energetic person, unlike us average slobs. I could not do 5-6 loads of laundry or flip a load in a "few moments." I have to collect all the laundry from all the bedrooms, take it two flights down to the basement, sort it, put a single load into the washer, come upstairs to do more boring, mindless stuff, go back downstairs in 30 minutes, pull all the clothes out of the washer, hang up the ones that can't go into the dryer (DH's gym clothes), put the rest into the dryer, put a second load into the washer, put in detergent, push all the buttons, go back upstairs, rinse, repeat.. If I did this five times a day, it would take me most of the day. I could not do 5-6 loads of laundry after work.

I cannot make dinner for my family of six in 30 minutes. We eat fresh, healthy food, and I cook almost all meals from scratch. I do not have the option of throwing a frozen pizza into the oven and calling that dinner. Last night I made pizza for dinner, used a pizza crust I'd made the day before, cut up and cooked garlic in olive oil for the topping, mixed up cheeses for the topping, cut up tomatoes and chicken, baked the crust for 5 minutes, took it out, oiled it with the garlic-infused oil, put it back in for five minutes, pulled it out, and put on the other toppings, put it back in for 20 minutes, meanwhile I emptied the dishwasher, made a salad, set the table, took out the pizza, cut it, yelled for everyone to come to dinner, pulled out the plates, served the meal. This took me more than an hour, and this was a simple meal.

"It takes a minute or two" to clean your bathroom, PP? Are you joking? Your bathrooms must be encrusted with crud and smell like urine! Do you have boys? Probably not, or you would know it takes 30 minutes to clean the bathroom, at bare minimum. Scrubbing the toilet free of urine and other substances takes quite some time, even if you do it every day or two.

Your counters are clean all the time? If you do any cooking, you create a mess. I cook all meals, and my kitchen can take at least 45 minutes to clean up every night. There are lots of pots and pans to scrub, dishes to hand wash, dishwashers to load and unload, counters to scrub, things to put away.

I don't think you should criticize a SAHM if you have not done it yourself. It's boring and exhausting to stay at home with young kids. Boredom IS exhausting. Would you like to do tedious crap all day long? For an educated person, it's a form of torture. Try some sympathy and a little encouragement. [/quote]

I was actually thinking the same thing about this poster. Is she super girl, zipping around, doing everything faster than the speed of light? THere's no way I could unload our D/W in 2 mins. It takes 10-15, for me. Cleaning one bathroom in a simple way takes 15 mins (I'm probably not as thorough as you). 
I also stayed at home for some time before going back to work. I'm Pakistani and our simple meals took 45 mins - hour of active prep time; there's no way I could do things in 10 mins like pp suggested. 
Now I wah, and if actually let myself do housework while 'on the clock', I will be at it for 2-2.5 hours, MINIMUM. I don't have that type of luxury with my work, so it all gets done at night. [/quote]

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