If “having it all” means being happy and successful in your chosen field of work, bringing up smart, emotionally stable and healthy children while keeping the house clean and husband satisfied, I fail daily – on all levels. Do I still continue to give it a red hot go? Sure. But often it is to the detriment of some aspect of my life. In short, something has to give. Actually not just something. Lots of things.
1. Sex on tap.
When you have an exhausting day at work, the dog has shat on the carpet as a basic fuck you for leaving him alone all day at home and the middle child has roundhouse spewed green bile all over the lounge room rug as you walk in the door, for some reason your ‘come hither’ eyes, have turned into ‘come near me with your penis and I will find a new function for your Swiss Army Knife’ eyes. Often a consequence is that the bedroom action slides a little. Or a lot.
2. Parental supervision.
Once upon a time, I believed I would NEVER be one of those parents who would give their child a device to keep them quiet in public. No damn it, if we were going out, we would be that family sitting serenely sipping tea and telling funny anecdotes. Yeah, no. Trying to make sure all time is quality time, puts major pressure on not only you but the children as well. Hence the equipment comes out. Portable DVD players. DS, phones etc etc. Whatever keeps them amused and allows us, as a couple, time to actually speak to each other has been embraced. Judge as you see fit.
3. Home maintenance
The general housework and cleaning gets put on the backburner. No seriously. My car hasn’t been cleaned out in a year. Minimum. I found a Power Ranger stuck up the Air conditioner vent just yesterday. That and a petrified french-fry. It seriously is the last thing I feel like doing when I get home. Easy solution is to hire a cleaner. But we all know people just clean for the cleaner. So perhaps my answer is just for someone to threaten me with a cleaner..