When dad Clint Edwards last chatted on the phone with his mom, he was hit with a specific question about his wife: “Doesn’t it bother you that Mel won’t keep a cleaner house?” Clint shared on his Facebook page, No Idea What I’m Doing: A Daddy Blog, that he was in the process of doing dishes when his mom shared her “curiosity” and he had no idea how to respond. “My mother didn’t say it in an antagonist way or anything,” he wrote. “She’d obviously noticed that our home wasn’t all that tidy.” However, what his mom didn’t see was that it’s not only Mel’s responsibility to clean their home. “I see our marriage as a partnership, so cleaning is as much my responsibility as it is hers,” he wrote. “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.” More from CafeMom: Woman’s Post About the Days Motherhood “Beats the Sh*t Out of You” Is So Spot-On It Hurts Since he didn’t know exactly how to answer his mom, Clint admits that he floundered at first. However, thinking back on their conversation, he realized that his mom’s perception of their house simply reflects the generation in which she grew up. “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,’” he wrote. “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 difference between Clint and his father is that Clint didn’t even consider a “clean house” when he decided to marry Mel. “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,” he wrote. “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 initially struggling with how to respond to his mom, Clint realized he had the perfect answer: Since Clint shared his response on Facebook, his post has been met with cheers from others who realize it’s not “only a wife’s job” to keep the house clean. 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.’"
Obviously, his mom didn’t intend to put her daughter-in-law down. But, as the comments on Clint’s post clearly show, being a parent and a spouse are pretty hard jobs, and there’s no place in 2017 for archaic ideas about who tackles the chores.
title: “Why This Dad Doesn T Wish His Wife Kept A Cleaner Home” ShowToc: true date: “2024-08-30” author: “Isaac Andres”
When dad Clint Edwards last chatted on the phone with his mom, he was hit with a specific question about his wife: “Doesn’t it bother you that Mel won’t keep a cleaner house?” Clint shared on his Facebook page, No Idea What I’m Doing: A Daddy Blog, that he was in the process of doing dishes when his mom shared her “curiosity” and he had no idea how to respond. “My mother didn’t say it in an antagonist way or anything,” he wrote. “She’d obviously noticed that our home wasn’t all that tidy.” However, what his mom didn’t see was that it’s not only Mel’s responsibility to clean their home. “I see our marriage as a partnership, so cleaning is as much my responsibility as it is hers,” he wrote. “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.” More from CafeMom: Woman’s Post About the Days Motherhood “Beats the Sh*t Out of You” Is So Spot-On It Hurts Since he didn’t know exactly how to answer his mom, Clint admits that he floundered at first. However, thinking back on their conversation, he realized that his mom’s perception of their house simply reflects the generation in which she grew up. “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,’” he wrote. “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 difference between Clint and his father is that Clint didn’t even consider a “clean house” when he decided to marry Mel. “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,” he wrote. “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 initially struggling with how to respond to his mom, Clint realized he had the perfect answer: Since Clint shared his response on Facebook, his post has been met with cheers from others who realize it’s not “only a wife’s job” to keep the house clean. 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.’"
Obviously, his mom didn’t intend to put her daughter-in-law down. But, as the comments on Clint’s post clearly show, being a parent and a spouse are pretty hard jobs, and there’s no place in 2017 for archaic ideas about who tackles the chores.
