Amidst this grim time, the moments spent with family are priceless. Being locked down in homes for months now, families are coming closer. It’s particularly true for people like me who worked long hours earlier...
Even in a time of great fear like this, I had a secret pleasure of finally having to spend time with my family, particularly with my busy husband. It sometimes sound so strange that such joy could co-exist with such a sad backdrop. The long-held wishes that I had for my family and which seemed to be fantasies had started coming to life. 🤩 For the first time, it wasn’t just the women like me staying at home, but also the men, the “bread winner” of the families, whose socially pronounced domain had always been the world outside.
For the first few weeks, I was certainly super-charged to stretch my limits to please my family in every possible manner. Regularly dining together, indulging in home makeover, doing morning yoga with kids, experimenting with never tested recipes, doing all sort of recreational activities - the list of fun family moments seemed never ending.
But after a while, I found myself sunk neck deep in work bearing the brunt of office work deadlines, childcare responsibilities and bulk of household chores compounded together. I noticed my stress levels getting increased when I was unhappy about unfinished chores.
Despite wanting a break from this exhausting new 'normal' setup so desperately, I was hesistant to seek help from my husband and somehow my stress went unnoticed by him until one fine day when he watched this awe-inspiring advert by Ariel India on TV.
The impact of the the advert was so instantaneous that my husband admitted to me, "No chores are unpleasant, especially when it comes to the 'men' in the house. No matter who earns more or who spends longer hours at the office space; now we will equally and fairly take responsibility for dusting, laundry, cooking, bed making,and even toilet cleaning in our household."
Trust me, a small help offered by my husband exceptionally improved overall positivity in the house. 🏡 I felt myself truly fortunate when my husband and my son fondly came forward for helping n supporting me to #ShareTheLaundry and #ShareTheLoad. 😇
This practice of chore-splitting has strengthened bonding among all my family members. Actually, we're genuinely committed to continue being a support to each other at home even after this #lockdown phase is over. Because for the modern truefit family like ours, 'housework gender gap' is a thing of past.
It's a bliss to be with a man who advocates the fact that sharing the load is not a threat to his masculinity rather a sincere effort to reinforce gender equality at home.
Finally, I would say a cultural shift in the expectations of society is crucial at individual level to spur more equal practices in the home. Let's #ShareChoresMultiplyLove with a pledge to uproot deeply protected gender disproportion. 😇
