Housecleaning Doesn't Make Sense
November 13, 2011, By Tom McNulty 1 comment
Conventional wisdom holds that men are buffoons when it comes to housekeeping. And for many guys, OK, it's true.
Some of us simply freeze up when faced with any housekeeping task more difficult than taking out the garbage. We turn into blithering chimps—our thumbs becoming less opposable, our tails more prehensile. The mere whiff of Lemon Lysol or the sight of a washing machine control dial paralyzes us.
But to be fair, how would a woman perform if she had to change a car's oil, install a home thermostat or, on a baseball diamond, dive to snare a screaming one-hopper, regain her feet with catlike quickness and rifle a throw to second base to start a double play? Guys can do that. But for some us, housekeeping remains an 800-pound gorilla.
So what's going on here, homeboys? You don't have to be a genius to clean the house, but many of us manage to bungle it.
The Culprits
One reason we don't clean is ignorance. Our moms taught us and our sisters how to iron shirts and clean sinks, but while the girls listened, our minds were on girls, cars and sports. When we try to clean now, we use the wrong tools and techniques, small jobs become big, easy jobs hard, and we try to avoid the frustration.
Another factor: intimidation, a foster-child of ignorance. We don't know how or where to start on a big cleaning job, so we're paralyzed into inertia and wind up just watching football on TV.
NEXT: Examples
Comments (1):