Our author and young mother Alena Bezmenova had to master science, how to politely but firmly refuse her husband’s mother.
“Alena, well, I can’t …” I heard my mother-in-law’s displeased voice behind my back. – You are not going to boil a spoon?
Alena is me. The spoon is silicone, the instructions for it are written in black and white: no effects of temperatures above 50 degrees. The mother-in-law rarely sees her granddaughter, and before she was not noticed in the distribution of valuable advice.
We live separately. The mother-in-law is raising the eldest granddaughter Ksyusha, our niece, so we don’t go to see her again with Marusya. The relationship is wonderful, but Ksyusha is still jealous: if the youngest is admired when she just turned over, then the older one almost has to walk on the ceiling in order to at least be noticed.
Unfortunately, I decided to buy some food at my mother-in-law’s house for rare visits to Marusya. I added a spoon and a bowl to the porridge and mashed potatoes. Thoroughly washed the dishes under the tap, and then rinsed them with boiled water from the kettle. And that became my mistake.
“First, wash it with baking soda,” my husband’s mother told me almost categorically. – And then boil! “
She refused to follow the instructions, they say, I was purple before your instructions, I raised two children, my granddaughter, there, the beauty runs around without other people’s advice.
“Maybe you also don’t boil Marusya’s linen?” – She looked at me suspiciously.
“I’m not boiling,” I answered defiantly. – I wash it in the washing machine.
The washing machine finished off the mother-in-law.
“I have been washing Ksyusha’s things for eight years with my hands and baby soap, and now you are all completely lazy,” she diagnosed me.
Yes, I do not boil everything. I’m not trying to disinfect all of my daughter’s toys. I give her permission to lick the side of the bed and suck on her fingers if she so desires. I have my first child, but I lead myself with her, as in that joke about a large family: if the third kid eats from a cat’s bowl, this is a cat’s problem. With my share of indifference, our things are perfectly clean, there are no allergies to the powder, as well as no digestive problems due to the dishes not boiled until reddening. In general, I am an ardent opponent of sterility in the house, I am for a healthy order. It seems to me that small doses of bacteria, from which you still can’t hide, are more likely to prepare the baby for a date with the wider world than harm.
What does my mother-in-law want from me?
1. Boil all utensils, including spoons and teethers, which should not be boiled.
2. Boil all children’s underwear in a saucepan (!), And then wash, rinse and wring out with your hands. Iron on both sides.
3. All soft toys, including those that came with the development mat, should be removed and replaced with plastic ones, which should be treated with soapy water twice a day.
4. Do wet cleaning in the apartment twice a day. And it is advisable to add a disinfectant to the water.
5. Make sure that Maroussia does not drag her hands into her mouth.
6. Do not use puree from jars and porridge for babies from bags. Rub and cook everything yourself. To my objections that we do not have a vegetable garden of our own, and that purchased fruits and vegetables are unlikely to be superior in value to special baby food, he only denies it. As an argument, she cites the story of how she once fed my husband with plum puree from a jar, after which he suffered for two days.
“I have forever vowed to give something from cans,” Nadezhda Vladimirovna proudly informed me.
Well, yes, feed a six-month-old son a large can of plum puree and wait for some other effect …
What do i do
1. My dishes are under the tap; the one that cannot be exposed to high temperatures, rinse with boiled water. I boil glass bottles and nipples, but rather out of habit.
2. I wash in the washing machine with baby powder on a delicate cycle. I iron from the seamy side.
3. I don’t wash toys, I keep them in a separate box. Maybe in a couple of weeks my hands will reach, I will send all the soft ones to the washing machine.
4. I wash my floor every two days. More often it does not make sense, it seems to me that it is already possible to eat from the floor.
5. I allow Marusa to drag her hands into her mouth. And not just hands.
6. I buy mashed potatoes and make porridge. I can easily explain my position. I doubt the quality of the adult products. I doubt the benefits of apples, which since last year have been delighting buyers with perfect barrels, in the benefits of carrots, which have grown to half the size of Marusya, in milk, which does not sour, but immediately becomes bitter.
Interview
Which of us do you think is right about sterility?
Mother-in-law. She has experience, she will not advise bad, especially if you have a good relationship.
Young mom. Who said we have to lose ourselves in washing-cleaning-cooking?
Both are correct. You just need to learn to listen to each other.
Another opinion, I will leave an answer in the comments.