Yucky Things Moms Used to Do

Not that many years ago mothers handled many tasks that no longer may exist. I always thought my mom was inexplicably brave by reaching into the sink trap with her bare fingers to remove the flotsam and jetsam that accumulated from dish washing and meal preparation. The indefinable conglomeration and congealed mass of debris gathered there waiting for Mom to remove it and toss it into the waste can. Today, many moms just flip a switch and the hidden garbage disposal genie magically makes it disappear, along with several fingers if moms today weren’t careful and tried to remove the yuck by hand.

Another yuck was the cloth diapers. It wasn’t like today with the disposable pull out a new one and toss the old one. Moms had to go through a ritual of removing the safety pins of the old diaper, washing the kid’s bottom, centering the child on a clean diaper, folded to fit the kid, pinning the new one into place, (taking care not to pierce the squirming child) and covering it all with a plastic protective barrier. If that wasn’t yucky enough, now mom had to rinse the mess from the soiled diaper, most often in the toilet. Washday, diapers were separated and washed in Ivory Snow or Dreft so the infant wouldn’t be exposed to harsh soaps and get an irritated and sore bottom. There were few things worse than diaper rash.

Sometimes when the seasonal flu bug hit, moms would be awakened by a gagging sound and a soft mewling of “Mom” coming from the bathroom. Carefully making her way to the ill child, wanting to avoid stepping into a puddle of puke deposited on the trip to the commode, she might encounter a soiled commode with the child hugging the porcelain throne. She would fetch water to rinse the distasteful reminder of the up-chuck from the child’s mouth. She would guide the child back to bed placing a pan beside the bed, “just-in-case.” Her task wasn’t complete. She had to return to the battlefield and face the mess in the bathroom, making sure it was ready for the assault of the next flu victim.