What Did You Do Today?

By Alan Smith © 2002
Excerpt posted with permission. Read full story at Heartlight
More from Smith at Alan Smith's Thought for the Day.



One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He found her lounging in the bedroom, still curled in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, “What happened here today?”

She again smiled and answered, “You know every day when you come home from work and ask me what in the world I did today?”

“Yes” was his incredulous reply.

She answered, “Well, today I didn’t do it.”

~~~~

As a full time parent, do you ever feel like this? The massive amounts of work you put into your children on a daily basis can so often get overlooked, go unnoticed, and seem unappreciated. If so, you may enjoy a larger collection of reading from Naomi Stadlen:  


You, my friend, are not alone.  
~~~~

12 comments:

  1. This is so great. I am going to share in 'honor' of my significant other and all others who have ever asked their partner the inexcusable (albeit potentially naive question), "What did you DO all day?" I can't be the only one who simply *loves* (read: sarcasm) this question as much as I do...

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  2. I love that story. I remember it from before I ever became a parent.

    I also have left the house as-is on more than a few occasions so hubby can get a glimpse of just how much gets tidied up and accomplished in a day. He's usually amazed...

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  3. I have that book--it is awesome!

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  4. My house looks like that a lot of timetimes even when I am constantly cleaning up all day. Those are invariably the days my hubby asks what I did all day. If only he knew!

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  5. I am lucky to have a husband that knows it is work so I never have to explain myself :) But I guess it wasn't always this way. Thank you for sharing!

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  6. I have a 29 month old and a 9 month old. My house looks like this almost every day. I need this book.

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  7. What about the massive amount of parents who don't really care about their kids and dump them in creches all day when they don't even have a job. NO excuse for that. I think some parents dont even know why they had a child. I know plenty of them.

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  8. i dont even have a significant other to help me or under appreciate me. i just do what i gotta do. there is no one helping me raise my kid and clean my apt. or earn money or do anything else. im more worried about making ends meet than getting someone to appreciate the work i HAVE to do.

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  9. this is great. this picture reminds me of the time i left my little ones quietly playing in the living room while i went upstairs to start the bath. when i returned they had dumped their orange juice all over the coffee table and were playing slip and slide across the table naked. i yelled "ahhh, what are yo doing!?" they looked up at me and said "it's ok Momma, we're gonna take a bath" :)

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  10. NOW that was good! I really needed a good laugh today! :)

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  11. Loved this. Even though I work full time and my mother-in-law looks after my 2yr old every day and my 5 yr old before and after school, I have a scene of devastation every evening when I get in at 4pm! The house remains a wreck until they go to bed as there is no point! Life is too short to worry about the odd toy lying on the floor. My 2yr drew all over my wall yesterday and it can stay there until I can get time to paint it! You have to love them...and their mess!!

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  12. I just read a scene in a novel that was all about this! In "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon (Book 3 of the Outlander Series), a woman has been rushing around all day at top speed, dealing with a sick baby, trying to get the furnace repaired, and preparing a dinner party (cooking while holding the child), and her husband comes home and basically says "Why is your hair so messy, and you are wearing a blouse with baby spit up on it... after all, you have been home all day with nothing to do..." and she snapped. She took the wine bottle, broke it against the door, and marched out of the house, right past the dinner guests who were just arriving, and drove away.

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