YOUNG VOICE
Laundry and black briefs
Household chores make up the list of good deeds that children send to North Pole weeks before Christmas. They also make up a month's worth of torture when dad says you're grounded. They are the conditions imposed on you before you get to play a game boy or before you're given allowance.
Some helpless kid may wonder if the chores were really intended for housekeeping or torture imposed by parents so as the poor child won't feel bored.
Sometimes, a bored 17-year-old who has nothing to do during one's two-month-long summer vacation can wonder.
My mother can't force me to do the laundry or tidy my bed during school days. I couldn't afford 30 minutes watching a washing machine rotating on pairs of red boxer shorts, black briefs and knee socks. I'd rather spend that time reading my chemistry book. But now that vacation means a break from all those academic work, I took the liberty of trying my skills in doing the laundry, sweeping the floor, fixing beds and other work that are to come.
Many take household chores for granted because they think that such are lenient and ordinary. I would be hypocrite if I say that sometime ago, I didn't appreciate my mother's effort of keeping our house in order. But a couple of spins with the machine machine made me value such.
There's the steamed rice served before us during mealtime. It may take a few minutes to cook such but someone's effort of cooking for us is not a simple act. And more so if this someone wasn't paid to do so.
Then there are the clothes that we love to smell because of the detergent's fragrance. It may have taken two cups of laundry powder and some minutes of spinning to finish them but someone's effort of doing the act is not simple. More so when compared to the rest, that someone only had a few clothes to wash.
If it is menial to do household chores, why do people hire housekeepers?
We always have this notion that household chores are inferior compared to tasks as the office or somewhere else. I beg to differ. That hearty and yummy breakfast on the table keeps us fueled up for work. That superbly washed and ironed school uniform makes Junior confident in raising his arm to answer the teacher's questions.
I guess one should get one's hands soaked in soapy water before one could see the significance of doing the laundry.
Responsibility. That's one thing these household chores teach us. Nowadays, I'm programmed that every five in the afternoon, it's time between me and the washing machine.
I feel satisfied to see my mother smile at me every time she irons the clothes I washed and hung dry.
Summer is just two months and after that, I'll be back to my studious self; isolating myself from household stuff so I could dig in my text books. I'm not sure if I could help my mother the way I did this vacation. But I am definite that every morning before I go to school, I won't forget to thank her for doing what she does for us.
I am certain that every time I stain my white uniform, I will feel more depressed than before. I am sure that from now on, household chores won't be just good deeds that a child makes so Santa Claus would reward him or her.
Got nothing to do this summer?
Fix your bed. Cook Rice. Do the laundry.
They aren't so boring after all.
(For comments and reactions please email to reylangarcia@gmail.com or SMS to 09186363090. View my blog at http://www.theyoungvoice.blogspot.com)