I’m currently on maternity leave. I have two wonderful children, one who was born five years ago, and a newborn who has just arrived.
Let me recount something that happened recently.
It all started with a list my mother-in-law presented to me just after I married my husband. The list had all sorts of things on it, like the fact that my husband is allergic to certain foodsI make sure to stay mindful of that, as it’s important. One of the items, to my surprise, was that I must always iron his underpants. Apparently, if they’re not ironed, they might somehow make him uncomfortable
I suppose I thought, in a way, this just means shes a caring mother. Theres something reassuring about a mother who wants the best for her son. I did my best to follow her tips from the list; none were especially bothersome. Still, ironing underwear threw me a bitmy mum and I had never bothered with such a thing.
My eldest arrived first, and we started out with nappies, of course. But once we moved onto pants, I simply started ironing his underwear, too. Now I found myself ironing undies for two people, which quickly becomes a never-ending mountain of laundry. I kept at it dutifully, mostly because my mother-in-law was convinced the hot iron and steam killed off germs. She even insisted it was terribly important for the health of our little boy, and that I should always iron his underwear, just as I did for my husband.
Ultimately, its not really about my mother-in-lawits about having two children. Trying to get everything done on time now is often impossible. I suspect any mum with one child whos just a baby and another child running about would understand. I do my best to keep up, but the laundry mountain just keeps growing.
Yesterday, my husband mentioned in passing there weren’t any pants in his drawer, meaning, of course, they hadnt been ironed. I was so tired. I told him he was welcome to take some from the pile of clean but un-ironed pants.
He rang his mother while I was heading to bed and told her that his wife never has time anymore. He was clearly quite miffed. And all because of a pile of underpants.
Do you iron your childrens underwear? If so, for how long? And is there any way to make the process go any quicker?
