The Survival Guide for Rookie Moms

‘They’ say it’s a good thing for kids to come into contact with dirt and germs to help them build a strong immune system. Well, I don’t know about you rookie moms, but oh boy, do I find that particular piece of advice hard to follow. For the most part before my babies could walk, when we were out and about in public places I kept them on my lap, in a highchair (usually our own booster seat we took with us to restaurants) or they remained in the stroller. I would cringe when friends allowed their six-month-olds to crawl on the floor of the coffee shop. I physically shuddered when a fellow mini-patient was allowed to scuttle around the doctor’s waiting room, ferreting under chairs, practically licking the carpet. Obviously I wasn’t going to let my baby anywhere near that floor. He remained safely nestled in my lap, looking at a book we’d brought from home – doctor’s waiting room toys and books, you must be kidding! Have you seen the Huggies wipie commercial with the baby in the bubble? – that mom is me (well, a more attractive, better dressed version of me).

I’d like to say I’ve loosened up a little since those early over-protective days, but in truth I still struggle with the whole dirt, germs and kid mix. We’ve just taken possession of our new house, which although a lovely house is in dire need of more than a little TLC. It seems the previous owner had gone a little overboard with the ‘antique look’ and I can only guess she did her cleaning with a teabag given the color of the paintwork. The bedrooms were a particularly scary prospect to a nervous mom like me. Previously the pits of university students, these rooms were dark, grimy and in one case decorated in shades of dark gray and silver. And as for the carpets; only over my dead body would my little cherubs’ feet come into contact with that level of unidentifiable filth. One particular stain resembled an alien, as if a little ET had come to a sad and messy end right there on the bedroom floor. It was of course more likely spilled coffee, coke, beer or possibly all three, previously ingested.

Hubby and I spent an exhausting week relentlessly decorating and cleaning before the kids moved in. The grungy old carpets – and with them ET’s last resting place – are gone; the grey and silver paintwork replaced with fresh pinks and blues; and the grime scraped, chipped, vacuumed and scrubbed away and I’m left feeling at ease that at least the dirt I could see has been obliterated. As for the germs I can’t see… we’d better not go there.

Filed under: Baby Tagged: | anxiety, Baby, dirt, Family, germs, infant, infant care, Motherhood, new mom dilema, Parenting