An Australian blogger and mom of six has admitted that she cuts corners to make her life easier, leading her to be branded as “lazy” by critics who disapprove of her ultra-laid-back approach to parenting. Constance Hall, from Perth, admitted that the more children she’s had, the more hands-off approach she’s taken to motherhood because otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the workload.
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- She only bathes the kids a couple of times a week. There’s no denying that kids are always getting dirty, and while there’s nothing wrong with a little grit and grime, they do need to be washed regularly. Many people believe three times a week isn’t enough for the kids to be bathed, but Constance insists they only need it once or twice a week. “They don’t have to bath or shower every day. They can quite often skip that part of the routine if it’s getting everyone down. I’m like, ‘Fine, stinky, go to school and gross everyone out,'” she wrote in her column for MamaMia.
- She doesn’t do dishes so the kids eat with their hands. Describing dishes as “the worst part of dinner,” Constance admits she has no desire to stand in front of the sink for hours on end washing dishes, so she lets the kids go utensil and plate-free. “Feast with your hands,” she writes. “In other cultures, everyone eats with their hands off the same plate. I often put a huge pile of vegetables along with another plate of sliced meat or whatever you’re making. It’s like with dogs: give a dog some dog food and he turns his nose up at it. Introduce another dog and he will race back to competitively eat. It doesn’t always work but there are less dishes.”
- Folding laundry is out of the question as well. Instead of having to wash and fold laundry for six kids, Constance recommends getting large colored buckets in which to throw clean clothes so the kids can fish them out themselves. If the kids want the stuff folding, they can do it rather than relying on their mom for it.
- Once 7:30 p.m. hits, it’s time to check out. After looking after the kids during the day, Constance and her partner like to check out in early evening and do their own thing, leaving the kids to fend for themselves. “Anything you need that’s not an emergency after that is up to you to do. I’m not your mum; I’m not here. I’m not your slave, I’m just a statue of a woman who an hour ago wiped your bum and is now drinking wine chatting on the phone to her sister,” she wrote. “Similar rules in the car. Unless it’s a confession or something really juicy, I have my headphones on and am out of service.”
- At the end of the day, Constance just prefers not to sweat the small stuff. Rather than seeing it as taking a hands-off approach to parenting, Constance says she prefers to just pick her battles and focus on the more important things in her kids’ lives. “You have the choice to judge yourself on floral smelling fabric softener, home-baked cakes and spotless floors, or chill the f*** out, laugh a bit louder, turn the music up and love them all that bit harder,” she wrote. “The thing about being a parent is that it’s a 24 hour a day job no matter which way you look at it, whether you have checked out, or whether you have one kid or six. You are always on. So if you make the decision to have a big family you need to accept that corners must be cut. There is almost always an easier option and for the sake of your sanity, I beg you to find it. F*** the backlash and the ‘perfect parents,’ I promise that one walk with your five-year-old in the bush where you are fully present will mean more to him then having his undies perfectly folded every day for three years.”
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