Mom asks son why wife doesn’t keep a “cleaner house” – His reply has wives everywhere cheering
For many of us, our parents grew up in a completely different world than we did.
For many in the baby boomer generation, the wife was expected to take care of the children and keep a clean household while the husband was expected to be the bread winner.
That’s was the expectation for Clint Edwards’ mother who is a baby boomer. Which is why his mother asked if it bothers him that his wife doesn’t keep a cleaner house.
“I honestly didn’t know what to say,” Edwards, author of “No Idea What I’m Doing: A Daddy Blog, wrote in a post shared to the Love What Matters Facebook page. “My mother didn’t say it in an antagonist way or anything. It was more out of curiosity.”
Source: No Idea What I’m Doing: A Daddy Blog
His mother wasn’t wrong. Their house is usually filled with dishes in the sink and evidence that children have been running around.
Edwards’ house is definitely not as clean as his mother’ house, but it was never something that he gave too much thought to before.
“Not that it was only Mel’s job to clean it,” Edwards writes. “I see our marriage as a partnership, so cleaning is as much my responsibility as it is hers.”
Edwards floundered in his response to his mother and just didn’t know what to say.
Source: No Idea What I’m Doing: A Daddy Blog
“But think back, I believe my mother’s perception of our house really reflects the era she grew up in,” Edwards explains. “She’s part of the baby boom generation. I didn’t know my father all that well, but I do remember him giving me his advice about picking a wife: ‘Stop by her house unexpected. See how it looks in there. You can tell a lot about a woman by how she keeps her house.’ I think my mother’s concern over a clean house has a lot to do with her trying to meet the expectations of her youth.”
That’s when Edwards’ answer popped into his head.
“After a few moments of struggling to find the right words, I finally said, ‘I didn’t get into this marriage for a clean house. I got into it because she seemed like someone I could spend my life with,” he said.
His mother agreed that that was a far more important reason to be with someone than having a clean house. Edwards’ reflection shows a lot about the evolution of relationships and love in modern days and how it’s making strides toward equality and enlightenment.
You can read the post in its entirety below:
“A few weeks ago I was chatting with my mother over the phone when she said, ‘Doesn’t it bother you that Mel won’t keep a cleaner house?’ It was a Saturday. I was working on the dishes. I honestly didn’t know what to say. My mother didn’t say it in an antagonist way or anything. It was more out of curiosity.
She’d obviously noticed that our home wasn’t all that tidy. Not that it was only Mel’s job to clean it. I see our marriage as a partnership, so cleaning is as much my responsibility as it is hers.
I will admit, though, there is often kid clutter, dishes in the sink, and half finished art projects on the counters. I will also admit, it isn’t as clean as my mother’s home, but that doesn’t bother me. In fact, I don’t really think about that at all.
I didn’t really know how to respond to my mother, so I floundered. I never really know what to say in moments like this. But thinking back, I believe my mother’s perception of our house really reflects the era she grew up in.
She’s part of the baby boom generation. I didn’t know my father all that well, but I do remember him giving me this advice about picking a wife: ‘Stop by her house unexpected. See how it looks in there. You can tell a lot about a woman by how she keeps her house.’
I think my mother’s concern over a clean house has a lot to do with her trying to meet the expectations of her youth.
But the thing is, unlike my father I didn’t really think about a clean house when I married my wife. I thought about how I liked what she had to say. I thought about how she made me feel. I thought about how she smiled a lot. I liked that. I thought about how she was sweet and thoughtful, and how she seemed like the kind of mother I’d want for my children.
After a few moments of struggling to find the right words, I finally said, ‘I didn’t get into this marriage for a clean house. I got into it because she seemed like someone I could spend my life with.’
Silence.
I put some dishes in the washer. Eventually mom said. ‘Well… that probably is more important than a clean house.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘I think so too.’ “