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Original poster

Is cleaning, clearing up, washing, looking after kids "work"?

26 replies

Ladeeda · 28/04/2004 00:25

I've just had the most irritating conversation with an extremely annoying young man, who tried to convince me that stuff you do at home, like bringing up kids and housework, is not work because you are not being paid for it. BUT - stuff you do as a favour to a friend, like going round and helping him build his outhouse or shed or whatever, is work, because although you are not being paid for it, you are not doing it for yourself. BUT - if you are a self-employed man running business (you've got it - for yourself) that is work, because it is how you make your living.

Can somebody please define work for me?

OP posts:
AussieSim · 28/04/2004 05:58

I would just avoid conversation with said 'annoying young man' - he is obviously talking out of his a**e. If you can't, ask him if he thinks house cleaning and childcare is 'leisure' (the opposite of work?)

gothicmama · 28/04/2004 06:40

Work is something that is done before you can do the tthings you want to do

skerriesmum · 28/04/2004 08:58

Of course it's work. And it's a mug's game; as soon as you do any, more needs doing!

noddy5 · 28/04/2004 08:59

definitely

Janh · 28/04/2004 09:00

If you needed to get somebody else to do it for you, you would have to pay them. Therefore it is work. Obv. Tosser!

lazyeye · 28/04/2004 09:03

He obviously has never done it. Give him a 'Who rules the roost' type 2 week trial with my two plus heavy cushion up jumper for unborn babe, and see what he thinks then. Hardest work I've ever done mate.

Urgggg men.

kiwisbird · 28/04/2004 09:16

Well ask him if he would do it for you... if we paid someone to do our job at home it works out at about £27,000 per year, plus unsociable and split shift allowances, plus public holiday overpayment, due to days of in lieu not being taken, we could also sue our employers for lack of consideration. LOL
It is work!

Janstar · 28/04/2004 09:27

The Concise Oxford Dictionary has a long list of definitions, the first being:

The application of mental or physical affort to a purpose; the use of energy.

This young man sounds like a wind-up merchant to me. The kind who will say anything to get a rise out of you.

Janstar · 28/04/2004 09:28

Sorry, of course that should be effort, not affort.

Reading and copying without looking at the screen

Sonnet · 28/04/2004 09:35

It is work yes, because if you either DIY or pay a nanny , clener of housekeeper!!

motherinferior · 28/04/2004 09:53

It's unwaged labour; it's still labour.

coppertop · 28/04/2004 09:57

Invite him round to do some babysitting one evening. Don't pay him for it. Then tell him he shouldn't be paid as he hasn't done any actual work - after all, he's only looked after children!

suzywong · 28/04/2004 09:57

YES!!!!!!

suzywong · 28/04/2004 10:01

Give him a clip round the ear and tell him that was definitely work as you were doing it as a favour to humankind

bossykate · 28/04/2004 10:25

hang on a sec didn't we all say yesterday when a dad did childcare, it wasn't work?

i mention it now because i was surprised - imo, it is work, regardless of who does it!

Furball · 28/04/2004 10:26

IMO work is only something you don't like doing. If you enjoy it, it's not really work more of a pleasure. I feel that also applies about paid work as well as us SAHM's.

Lisa78 · 28/04/2004 10:30

send him round to my house Ladeeda, I'll soon show him how much bloody work it is, stupid, brainless tosser

WideWebWitch · 28/04/2004 20:23

Oh ffs! (at annoying young man) OF COURSE stuff you do at home is work. God, what else does he think it is, pleasure?

discordia · 28/04/2004 21:28

Although I am not paid to be a SAHM, I am making a valid contribution to the household income by looking after the kids so that he can go out to work. He works long hours and couldn't do that without me to look after kids/house. So there.

Easy · 28/04/2004 21:32

What a bl**dy stupid theory. Of course housework is work thats why it's called housework, and anyway it's a damned sight harder (and less fulfilling) than most office jobs.

Why does it differ if you're doing 'for yourself', than if you're a paid cleaning lady then?

Whoever this young man is, Ladeeda, He's a very silly boy indeed (I was going to say stupid wnkr, but I don't use rude words)

Paula71 · 28/04/2004 22:52

Okay I have held down two jobs and gone to college at one point. I am more tired now, as a SAHM with ds twin toddlers, than I was then, and that was only a few years ago so it isn't like I was very young and energetic!

DH makes a point he goes to work for a rest!

Original poster
Ladeeda · 28/04/2004 23:22

Thank goodness that's the overwhelming consensus. For one mad milisecond, I thought I was wrong. It's amazing how forceful uninformed young men can be

OP posts:
bobs · 28/04/2004 23:32

ask him to give it a go - one day should be all it should take!!

Original poster
Ladeeda · 29/04/2004 08:59

That's the problem - he's willing to admit it's work if somebody is being paid for it, but if you're doing it for yourself it's not work!

Que?!!!!

OP posts:
wobblyknicks · 29/04/2004 09:03

Its definitely work - and whats more, if it was paid 'employment', we'd all probably have a case to sue!!! Our bosses are unreasonable and demanding, we have no set hours and get paid no overtime, have to pay for our own holiday, buy the materials for our jobs out of our own pockets, get no sick leave, and aren't entitled to a reference if we want to apply for another job!!!

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