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It’s Time to Get Them To Do Chores
What I wish I’d known when my kids were little.
The other day I was in my daughter’s garage. My husband was helping me wrap presents for the unhoused. We were taking twenty-five pillowcases with gifts to the safe injection site. There were a lot of items for each bag so a lot of wrapping was involved.
The ironing board appeared to be living in the garage and he had the brilliant idea to set it up for wrapping things. It is a good height for that.
His work by the way was impeccable. He could cut the paper in proportions that reflected the size of the gift and make the corners neat like a hospital bed sheet. Opposite to my work where the gifts look like a five-year-old who has been fed a diet of sugar cookies was in charge of the wrapping.
In any case, when we were done I went to put away the ironing board and realized that I didn’t know how. This caused my husband to be reminded of the fact that over the course of our forty-five-year marriage, I had rarely ironed a thing. When he had a job that required pressed shirts he did it himself.
Ironing always seemed to me to be a waste of time. I had friends who ironed sheets, jeans, and tea towels. Back when that level of domesticity was an admirable quality. Maybe it still is. Actually, I know it still is in…
