MARY ANN FITZMORRIS / L’Observateur / September 9, 2000

Labor Day is a great idea. It’s wonderful that businesses givetheir employees a hard earned day off.

This holiday is observed in almost every corner, except thehousehold. No, workers whose job it is to hold together the homedo not get this day to relax. Quite the contrary.

In reality, mothers actually work harder on holidays, since it islikely that the family is doing something special. Everyone knowsit is Mom’s responsibility to prepare the food, clothes, andvehicle for any family adventure.

For example, on a recent weekend outing with my beloveddependents, everyone was ready and waiting for me, who seemed tobe taking an interminably long time to get prepared to leave.

Dad read the newspaper and the shoeless children willingly gotinto the car and sat. Or perhaps they were hiding, knowing howmuch there was to be done.

When I arrived at the car there was the ususal round of questions.

“Did you bring my boat?” my son anxiously asked. (He’s stillworking on figuring out those priorities.) My daughter is betterat this. “Mom, you’ve got my shoes, huh?”

This is my cue to explain that packing is their responsibility. Ido this as I continue to gather all thing necessary andunnecessary for the trip, occasionally glaring at bare feet.

All the best wrath is saved for Dad, who doesn’t even rememberwhere the kid’s underwear drawer is, and who is generally souseless in this endeavor Mom just gives him back the newspaper.

This is insulting to Dad, who now must find his own wrathreceptacle. If the dog is unavailable for kicking, the smiling,lazy passengers will be ousted from the automobile and forced tohelp load the car.

Head Female has now finished collecting everything from the houseand stacked it alongside the vehicle. Dad abandons the newspaperand tries to motivate the troops to pack.

Within minutes both parents are exhausted from packing, and theminors are exhausted from trying to get out of packing, so thefamily outing begins in what amounts to a rolling argument, alsoknown as the car.

If this holiday outing turns out to be a mini-vacation, Mom canlook forward to (fill in length of trip here) days of labor, withovertime.

Responsibility for collecting everything each time the groupleaves the room still falls on Mom, and, as at home, she needs toclean before the maid arrives.

While it is true that Mom gets a break from cooking and dishes,this pleasure is erased by irritation surrounding the hotel mini-bar.

Overtime really kicks upon the family’s return, when Mom and Dadhave unloaded the car. Female Head of House begins the task ofdoing the laundry. That is, after she unearths the washing machinefrom behind the mountain of soiled clothing.

Memories of such labor overtime will begin to fade as she huntsfor the last sock to fold, and in no time the group will againenjoy the pleasures of a small vacation, complete with therequisite strife.

Every now and then, though, Mom is offered a chance to venture outon her own, leaving all household chores to Dad. This is beyond myown personal psychological ability, but friends have reported thatthis is a highly desirable thing to do.

When they explain how they accomplish this solitary treat, itseems to me more trouble than it’s worth. One friend leavesoutfits for each child, complete with underwear and socks, undersheets of paper with the date written on it. This is accompaniedby reams of paper instructing him on every household task.

Her return home is exactly as it would be if the whole familywent. She has the dirty laundry she brought back, plus the week’sworth of laundry from the family. And nothing has been done in thehouse. There is a full day of cleanup to greet her.

Moms do work awfully hard, especially on holidays like Labor Day.

But it’s not true that no one recognizes their efforts. Thathappens the second Sunday in May.

Back to Top

Back to Leisure Headlines

Copyright © #Thisyear# Wick Communications, Inc.Best viewed with 4.0 or higher