Mum goes on strike to get partner to help with chores

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A mum who nearly left her partner because she was "fed up with him not helping with household chores" went on strike - and says it worked.

Transcript

00:00So I'm Carl. I'm Carla. And the reason why we took part of Mums on Strike was due to the fact of

00:08me really not understanding as much as what Carla does around the house really. I'm like, I'm a workaholic

00:14so everything consisted around work, work, work, work, work, work, and

00:18I just didn't understand or see the graph that Carla actually puts into the house. So like, you know, innit?

00:25Yeah, it did get to a point in our relationship where we actually separated because I felt, I just felt so

00:30sick to death of feeling like I'm the one that does everything and Carl not recognising what jobs I do and

00:35coming in the house huffing and puffing when I'd

00:37tried to make sure that the kids were okay all day, I'd tidied up multiple times and there might be a few toys on the

00:43floor and Carl would come home and he'd start huffing and puffing at me, so.

00:47Yeah, I think I learnt my lesson, as you say. You know, there was a lot to it.

00:51I didn't understand exactly what went into the cleaning of the house and the maintaining of the kids and the school runs and the packed

00:58lunches, so I think within, within two days, I think I wanted to pull my hair out.

01:03It was very stressful. You had to walk in my shoes, didn't you? Walk in the shoes and I did, yeah.

01:08And it felt like I was wearing high heels and I had a few blisters, so it was, it was,

01:13it was an eye-opener, I'll put it that way, but I think,

01:17you know, I think we're glad that we did the show.

01:20It's really helped us out. It's made me look at things a little bit differently and I think I've been right to say that

01:27I think, I think I'm a little bit better now, don't you?

01:29Oh, yeah, he does so much more now to help out.

01:31It's like 50-50, isn't it? And he identifies when there's different things that need doing, I don't have to say it to him.

01:37So now it's like a real family partnership and we have decided that the marriage is back on and we are going to get married, so

01:45yeah, it's all been good since we've took part in the show.

01:48The hardest part for me was identifying what jobs needed to be done

01:53because they're, like I said, there's so many, there's so many jobs within the house.

01:57It's like, I mean, because I didn't really help out with much of them,

02:00I didn't really get the gist of what I had to do. So I was winging it for the first day or so.

02:06But then as time went on,

02:09you know, it became known to me exactly what I needed to do around the house, you know, the washing,

02:14dishwasher obviously has to be done,

02:16you know, when you're getting the kids ready for school in the morning,

02:19for example, trying to find their school clothes, their pants, their boxes, their socks and

02:25getting them out on time to school because they have to be at school at a certain time.

02:29So it's, you know, sticking to certain schedules.

02:31Dusting, I've never even looked at dusting.

02:34So doing the dusting was like, you know, mirrors, cleaning mirrors, cleaning mirrors. I've never done cleaning mirrors.

02:39So, you know, there was just so many different aspects to it. You know, it was difficult.

02:44I'm not gonna lie and I'm quite, you know, I'm a man enough to say that it was hard work.

02:48It was something completely different for me.

02:51But I went with it and it's just a massive eye-opener and, you know,

02:58in the end it was the, I couldn't wait for her to come home.

03:01Yeah, and I think the gratitude that you have and the stuff that you take for granted,

03:07when once that was no longer there, it was just, I felt so grateful with actually, you know,

03:12with what she does around the house and for me to

03:16to sit there and just, you know, most of the time watch her while she's doing this job or the jobs around the house.

03:22So one of the key points that I used to say was that they used to always, you know, bite me in the bum was

03:27I've done the dishwasher for you or I've tidied the table.

03:31I used to look for a medal, didn't you?

03:32I used to look for a medal.

03:34But now obviously you've got to look at it as the fact I'm not doing it for her, I'm doing it for us.

03:38So it's for everybody. It's a whole household thing.

03:40So, you know, then mistakes don't happen anymore.

03:43And if I see something that needs to be done, I'll get it done and I'll help out a little bit more.

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