Sharing The Load?

A recent Ariel advertisement had sent ripples countrywide where a dad feels sad seeing his daughter juggling her life between her house, office and her children (including the bigger child of the house; yes I am talking about ‘the hubby’). The father realizes that the reason behind this is actually how we raise our girls – teaching them that the domestic work of the house is their department. That’s what is universally accepted by both the genders eventually. Thankfully, this trend is changing slowly as husbands have started to pitch in when it comes to welcoming the new child and participating in the child’s daily care taking.

When a child comes into the life of a very free spirited couple, the responsibility starts to double or may be triple up. Changing diapers, sterilizing bottles, washing nappies, putting the child to sleep; if you think about it, the father can participate in all the above activities. This way they won’t even feel left out as usually the mom tends to get too engaged with the new child and the husband becomes attention deprived.

I am sure you’ve seen that our moms and mothers-in-law won’t agree to this and will end up saying “In our days we used to do everything with no help at all and look at you girls”. Well I don’t argue with them because that was a different time and this is a different time, but now things are changing. Women are busy too, they are working at home and at office they have same office responsibilities as men, sometimes more than them.

As we stepped into parenthood, my hubby was available all times whether it was staying up late nights when Adi would refuse to sleep or washing those nappies (yes, we used cloth diapers throughout). Children actually tend to enjoy with daddies more when it comes to bath time and getting dressed, like Adi always prefers his daddy for bath time and prefers mamma for feeding him.

I am sure every child will have his/her own preferences, but as far as my childhood is concerned I don’t remember my dad being a part of our bathing time, feeding or play time. It was totally my mom’s job and she would manage everything from household chores to taking care of us and also our school schedule and activities. My dad would be proud enough to say that it’s not a man’s job, but at the same I can see that uneasiness in his behaviour when he sees me toiling at home sometimes with the house work.

I am happy that the thinking has changed down the years and hope that more men pitch in for domestic chores to help their ladies wherever possible and not refrain from sharing the load. Help can be in any form, may be clearing the table sometimes or putting the utensils into the dishwasher, sometimes giving your wife some time off by taking care of your child, a surprise cooking may be! This is not too much work but it’s good to be involved….what do you think?

I am Priyanka, full time mommy to a 2.4 year old Atharva. I’m very old school, I believe in breastfeeding, cloth diapers and natural birth. The last three years have a changed a lot in me, I feel very transformed as a person. I have known various sides of me in this process from pregnancy to motherhood. From cooking to sewing and many more, I have explored many creative activities and still exploring some more…who says being a mother takes away everything? I have gained a lot, learnt a lot. I like to share my stories and chat with mommies. I’m also a social media enthusiast and enjoy blogging at Dailydose.