Greatest Enemy In The Home Is Boredom

Press, Volume C, Issue 29518, 20 May 1961, Page 2

Greatest Enemy In The Home Is Boredom

When women talk about “household chores” and the general drudgery of housework, they do not mean the speedy everyday routine of dishes and bed-making, they mean the long-drawn-out boredom which they experience in the home from Monday to Friday.

So say a group at Christchurch women who were which aspects of housekeeping they disliked most. This came as a surprise to a reporter of "The Press" who expected to hear complaints dealing with specific chores or tasks which could be almost eliminated by laoour-saving devices. "I don’t mind doing dishes in the least and I don’t even mind scrubbing floors,” said one young housewife. “What I do ccmplain about is the length of time I have to spend within the four walls of the kitchen every day.” "I enjoy the creative jobs around the house like cooking attractive meals, arranging and tidying the living rooms and doing the sewing for the children,” said another. "But I feel that all my personality is being scrubbed away when I set to work on the kitchen floors. To me that is dull work and I feel dull all day afterwards.” The mother of three young children under six years said she tried to set aside at least one hour at every day when she could spare it, to read a book or magazine, or to go out for a walk without shopping basket, so that she could

gather enough fresh ideas to carry her through the rest of the time. “I found this after several years of making a burden of housework and caring for the family.” she said. “It seems to work for me and now the rest of the time really flies past me.”

All the women agreed *that they did not like to leave housework because they could not enjoy their homes if they were untidy. Outside Interest T think a woman needs some interest outside her home or some creative work in it.” commented a woman who had made a point of taking a part-time job as soon as her family was grown up. ‘There is no doubt that housekeeping and the kitchen itself can give a housewife a sort of claustrophobia. I would not recommend a job

for all women because it really is tiring work, but a hobby is a must” A few of the women said that they had wrongly blamed their feelings of depression on routine chores. They had discovered that they were depressed because they felt lonely and isolated when tied to the house with young children. When the children were not demanding their full attention, they felt bored. Letting a standard of personal appearance slip was another sign of boredom, according to the working wife. The feeling that "there’s noone here to see me anyway” was an excuse for the lack of interest in herself. As soon as she went out to work this housewife says her appearance improved a great deal. "I didn’t spend any more money either,” she said. “I just took more care.”