A day being Superwoman

A few nights ago, something that my mother said made me feel quite ashamed of myself.

She said, “When I was your age, I was already doing most of the housework. My mother did not teach me much about doing household chores; I picked them up mostly by myself. How to cook, how to iron clothes, how to keep the house spick and span... If I wanted to go out and play, I would always finish up the housework first.”

It was a casual remark she made while we were chatting. Although I do help my mother do household chores, I have to admit that I do not help out on a regular daily basis.

My mother is like Superwoman. Ever since she married my father, she has been giving all that she has for the family, devoting all her time to be a good wife and mother. In the day, she is busy with work and when she comes back home, her work does not end. She whips up a good meal, and after dinner she keeps herself busy with endless household chores like washing and ironing clothes. It is then that she sits down to take a rest.

I often wondered where in the world my mother garnered the energy and motivation to do so much hard work in a day. It is after all not an easy task to manage a household, not to mention juggling work both outside and at home. I often marveled at how she could do so much, yet remain so positive and grumble so occasionally about the work load.

After hearing what my mother said, the next day, I decided to try my hands at being Superwoman for a day before I go out.

I woke up early and took a look at the laundry bucket.

“Wow, so many clothes to wash!”

I dumped all the clothes into the washing machine and when they are done, I hanged them up to dry.

“Washing clothes and hanging them to dry isn’t all that tough!”

Then, I moved on to take a look at the standing clothes hanger.

“Wow, so many clothes to iron!”

I can do most household chores, and in fact I enjoy some of them, in particular cooking. Washing the dishes and cleaning the cooking area is my forte, vacuuming the floor is easy and mopping the floor is alright too. But, if there is one household chore I can choose not to do, it would have to be ironing.

Ironing is such a difficult task. Firstly, it makes one hot and sweaty, and secondly, I can somehow never get the clothes pressed really smartly.

My mother has a special knack for buying clothes that can be easily ironed. Since all my father’s shirts are chosen by my mother, I reckoned that would be an easy start for me to launch my ironing mission. I was right! With just a little bit of ironing, the crease and folds on my father’s shirts are subdued and they fall neatly into place. For the first shirt that I ironed, I gave myself a rating of 80 points. The remaining 20 points was because I still could not really get the shoulders area smartly pressed.

Then the second, third, fourth, fifth……until the tenth shirt.

Amazing! I actually managed to iron ten shirts in a go. And yes, it took me quite sometime to progress that far. Nevertheless, I was still proud of myself, although my 80 points have deteriorated to a miserable 50 points for the tenth shirt. I shall spare the details for the rest of the household chores.

So much for my day being a Superwoman, but strictly speaking, I have only managed half a day.

I think my mother was a very good girl when she was young, in that she would do household chores before she went out. I mean, if at a sensible age, we do not help to ease some of our mother’s burdens, and only cared for our own enjoyment, it would not seem right. In fact, I have a low regard for such people.

I have seen people who spend all their time in school for their extra-curricular activities or work so hard in their jobs, and yet find it a bother to lift even a finger on household chores. Or even people who drift in and out of shopping malls and cinemas the whole day and complain they are bored because there is nothing to do. Now, I have a good suggestion for them, “Check the laundry basket.”

Housework may seem tough to do, but there can be enjoyment too. And the biggest satisfaction is the look on your mother’s face. If you do not believe, try being Superwoman or Superman for just a day, and you will see what I mean.

For me, I am on my learning journey to becoming a real Superwoman as great as my mother, for the many days that follow.

To know that we are old enough to ease some of our parents’ burdens, I think that is really growing up.