Tone It Down

Tova has had an eye-opening experience during lockdown. She works full time, so she’s not usually at home during the day. Now that she’s in close quarters with her family, she’s seeing things she never realized before. And she doesn’t like it.

“We have three teenagers,” she says. “They’re all old enough to help out. But I see them lying around all day, expecting me to run around cleaning up after them as if they were toddlers.

“We have toddlers too, and I have enough to do taking care of them and the other kids. I’m barely managing, and I constantly feel exhausted and irritable. I have to try to work eight hours while all the children are around, I need to prepare three meals a day for the nine of us, keep the house clean, and homeschool the kids.

“I’m on the brink of collapse, and they don’t seem to care! I have to beg them to get off the couch and off their phones to help me, and they never do a proper job. That’s aside from all their personal junk they leave lying around on every available surface.”