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The Editor's Desk - From Beneath the Clutter
Feature Article - Who Loathes Laundry?
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Yesterday was one of those days I've been looking forward to even though I wasn't sure what I wanted the answer to be.
It was one of his surgical followups from the craniosynostosis surgery he had when he was three months old. This is going to be an annual thing unti he's at least 5 years old. However, I considered this one pretty important because it was a chance for us to talk to the surgeon about the fact that Gage isn't really talking much yet, at nearly 20 months of age.
As I suspected, odds are it's nothing, just a slight speech delay. However, he is referring Gage to a ophthalmologist to check for pressure on his eyes, as that can indicate pressure elsewhere, such as the speech center. It's the simplest way of checking when there aren't any other apparent symptoms of pressure. It sounds odd, but if it means checking for pressure without all the trouble of another CT scan under anesthesia, I'm for it.
Obviously, this isn't quite as thorough as the CT scan, but it's apparently a pretty good way to check, and it was recommended that it be done annually. Combine that with what now looks to be a pretty good chance that Gage's pediatrician will recommend speech therapy when I talk to him at 21 months, and I hope we can find out what's going on pretty soon. And that it's nothing but a minor delay, of course.
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When there are kids in the house, you probably do a lot of laundry. I know I do. My daughter is in the preschooler phase of changing her clothes a couple times a day, which I’m sure is somewhat different from when older girls go through outfit after outfit. And, of course, every discarded outfit goes into the clothes hamper.
Then there’s my son. He’s developed a talent for soaking his diaper at night, so his sheets need washing about 3-5 times a week.
But I loathe doing laundry. The house we’re renting does at least have a washing machine, but about a third of the time it has a drip inside after washing a load, so I always have to turn the water off when I’m done with it. It’s a minor inconvenience, but still....
Bit by bit I’m trying to retrain my daughter about what dirty is in clothing terms. At her age, it can take only a few minutes to get completely filthy, so judging by how long she’s worn something isn’t enough. But we talk about clothes being clean enough if she only wore them a couple hours and didn’t get them visibly dirty.
Towels don’t need to be fresh every day in my home. If you hang them to dry appropriately after use, a towel doesn’t get dirty enough by my standards to need washing after just one use. Wiping clean water off a freshly bathed body isn’t exactly a dirty job, after all.
In talking with other parents, I’ve learned that there are many different ways to sort clothes. Some sort by color and material while others more or less sort into light and dark. My husband sorts into white versus anything with even a hint of color. I sort by light colors, dark colors and items that take a long time in the dryer, such as jeans and towels.
With a 4 year old daughter and 20 month old son, I can’t expect much help from my children with laundry. However, both show an interest in helping to sort. Yes, it probably takes longer that way, but it’s also more fun. Since my husband works outside the home, he’s rarely there to help.
As my son’s sheets often need washing, I make sure to grab up anything that can go in with them. It means doing loads throughout the week, but delays the time until I need to spend the entire day working on laundry.
Folding the laundry is, if anything, more boring. However, if it isn’t done promptly it leads to wrinkles... in the clothes, not on my face, thank goodness!
I have a great tactic for handling wrinkles in my husband’s clothes; they’re his problem! All he does is throw them into the dryer with a damp towel, so it’s not as though I’m making him work all that hard. Most of my stuff doesn’t really wrinkle, the advantage of being home with the kids all the time. I don’t need clothes that need ironing for the most part.
Laundry is one of those unavoidable chores and it certainly isn’t a personal favorite. Hopefully over the next few years I can get the kids trained to do better on their part of it.
Stephanie Foster is the owner of Home with the Kids, a resource that knows that there's more to staying home with your family than just business. For more stay at home tips, visit the site at http://www.homewiththekids.com/ and subscribe to the free newsletter.
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