I am Just a Girl

I’m all for equality, I like to think I can do most things.  But call me old fashioned, I still like it when gentlemen open the door for me.  I like hubby to buy me flowers for no reason and I always hope if I break down on the side of the road, someone will come to the rescue (that hopefully won’t bury me in a backyard).

When I was little I was taught that girls can grow up and do anything, be anything that they wanted. I’m the first to put my hand up for equality amongst the sexes, feminism to a point, but now that I’m grown up, and older and wiser, I’ve come to realise that there are certain things I will never be able to do”¦. Like:

Lift Heavy Things

Now I’m not a weakling, nor do I mind getting my hands dirty.  But try as I might, heavy stuff just has to stay where it is until someone bigger and stronger comes along. Fluttering ones eye lashes no longer works now that I’m over 30 (cough cough well over) and married with children, but I find there is no shame in either coercing (nagging!) my husband/brother/friend into lifting the object, or just leaving it where it is until the aforementioned strong man takes it upon himself to move it.

Cut Firewood

We’ve had a fire place for the last three years and I can honestly say apart from collecting kindling and lighting it that’s about as involved as I get.  See I tried to cut firewood with the axe once and nearly cut my foot off, hence my aversion to lifting heavy things, not to mention the chopping of wood.  Cutting firewood involves upper body strength and coordination I have neither!

Peeing Standing Up

C’mon.  I know you thought it.  I don’t need to go there, but it’s true.

Whipper Snipping

I love mowing.  I could mow all day it is very satisfying to see my lawn go from ‘Into the Wild’ to a ‘Home Beautiful ‘cover with one sweep of the ride on.  However whipper snipping is a whole new ball game.  It’s just plain dangerous.  For one thing, working out how to put cord in it requires a university degree, then that thing flings around threatening to take my foot off.  Then there are the rocks.  I once whipper snipped without a full face helmet on ended up with a concerning large lump on my cheek as a result of the flying debris. No whipper snipping can be left to the men folk.

Change a Tyre

Now I know how to change a tyre my Dad taught me that when I first got my licence before I was let loose on the open road.  I can and have changed a tyre when I’ve had no option.  But given the choice to change a tyre or remain in the car whilst a perfectly capable man does the hard yakka, I’ll take the sedentary choice any day. Tyres are filthy, and heavy (see ‘Lift Heavy Things’ above) and involve a lot of physical exertion, and I’m always worried I would not get the nuts on tight enough, resulting in a much more man-suited disaster when the whole tyre falls off mid-drive!

In my own defence, it seems that not only am I destined not to fulfil these duties, but that any attempt in my doing so is really not safe, for anyone in the vicinity. Flying rocks, unsecured car parts, severed limbs and unsupervised heavy objects lying around just sounds like the perfect excuse for playing the ‘I’m just a girl’ card.

Jody Allen is the Chief Editor and Owner of Stay at Home Mum.  She has recently started writing a weekly article for The Gympie Times and thought you may enjoy it too!