we can never break up
Laura Hogendoorn is editor-in-chief of Mamaplaats and a columnist for Kek Mama. She lives in ‘t Gooi, together with her boyfriend Oscar and their children Roef (8), Sierd (7) and Maia (4).
“Do you ever argue about taking out the trash?” asks a friend. She says she and her husband have the same discussion every week. “No”, I answer. “We argue about many things at home, but the garbage is not one of them.” That had to be added…
Casting
In my opinion, my friend and I have a well-functioning system: it does everything in and around the kitchen. He is cooking. Always. So even if I invite six girlfriends and he has to leave the house during dinner. Because I want to gossip extensively about our sex life, complain or not. So he is already preparing a three-course meal for us at four o’clock in the afternoon. While I watch from a distance with a glass of wine. And he can do all the dishes after dinner.
Anyway, he’s not crazy Henkie either. So there is something to that. I do the rest of the household. I change all the beds every week. I was – albeit retchingly – the bag of football uniforms and strong-smelling socks of his entire football team. I mop, not too often. And be best friends with the toilet duck.
Read also – Divide tasks fairly with your partner? That’s how you approach it according to an expert >
Reverse
This works like a charm for us. I mean: never discussions about who takes out the garbage, who scrapes the crusts off the toilet and who pulls the hair out of the shower drain.
The only thing is: we can never be apart again. Even if we wanted to. Because to be honest, I have no idea how to fry an egg or cook rice. Let alone put an entire meal on the table. And he’s never turned on a washing machine. I’m guessing if I show him a picture of our Dyson he won’t even know what that is. If we weren’t together, we’d be totally lost.
At least, in the household area. Not everyone in the house had noticed that we also – separately from each other – still have a whole working life in which we can function independently. Our four-year-old daughter was recently asked what profession her parents have. She knew without batting an eyelid that her father is a cook and her mother is a cleaner. Ah, I approve.
Read more? Check out mamaplaats.nl.
Receive Kek Mama with a discount and free shipping on your doormat every month! Subscribe now and pay only €4.19 per edition.
