Nightmares...

Every mother's recurring nightmare ( which in actual fact is reality ), is how the laundry basket gets emptied but fills up with such regularity that puts the moon cycle to shame. I am faced with a mountain of ironing every week. Uniforms first, my clothes next, then the kids pj's, mine , bedsheets and lastly the towels. I used to hate ironing. Would only iron on the day I needed to wear the outfit. With a complete psych up that didn't require Prozac, I talked myself into liking ironing. Now, I'll iron anything, for as long as it takes. I even help my friend out once in a while and the longest I spent ironing was 5 hours in a stretch. Now that sure beats all those stop smoking psych that they advertise. However, I managed the ironing part but I STILL do not like putting the freshly ironed clothes back in the cupboard. I dread it. I sometimes end up living out of the basket that holds the nicely ironed clothes. It's a strange phenomenon like the sock drawer. Can't get them in line and in any order. Not that I can't, just don't want to.
I get the kids to help out with laundry. They separate the clothes by colours ( arguments on where the stripey t shirt goes does ensue), they hang up the little bits on the pegs when it comes out of the washer and they take them down when it's dried. They also automatically put the ironed tea towels back into the drawer in the kitchen. Yes, I am mad. I iron anything. Bought this super duper steam iron that can iron with such ease that the first time I had it, I ironed everything in sight and never looked back.
Don't remember when my mom let me first use the iron. I remember doing things like the hankies and some small stuff. You see, there are no rule books on when to teach the kids survival skills like this. As a girl, it was a "supposed to learn" skill. Parenting books tend to end the chapters by age 5. What about boys? I grew up in a predominantly female household, never had a boy-friend when I was growing up, don't know the natural progression of boys. Learning curve-very steep. Thank goodness hubby is a very independent person. Can cook, wash , iron. We talk a lot about cleaning and tidying as well. We want the boys to be able to look after themselves completely when they are adults. I want the boys to be responsible. nj went all the way to school once and forgot to bring his school bag. I saw it on the floor and I knew he left home without it but I did not say anything until he got to school and went " Mummy, you forgot my school bag" My reply was " I forgot? It's your school bag and if you forgot it, you have to go and explain to your teacher why you don't have it and in your explanation, the word "Mummy" shouldn't come into it." Safe to say, he never forgot his bag again and he realises now that he has to be responsible for his own things. I told them both that I will NOT go back home to get their forgotten things for them or keep reminding them about their own stuff.
It's so easy to mother them. So easy to do everything for them. Gets things done faster as well , but, they won't learn.
nj says to NJ when NJ ( the cheeky monkey ) asks him to get things for him " Go get it yourself. I am not your servant". No prize guessing where he learnt that from. Glad he's not a pushover.
I wonder if all these lessons that I am teaching the boys will one day end up being that "nightmare" that they'll be talking about. Sigh... Even if it is, at least it wouldn't be like the magic ironing laundry basket that I have.....