“You Really Must Iron Your Underwear, Because Unironed Ones Can Be Itchy,” Emphasises the Mother-in-Law.

I am a mother currently on maternity leave. I have two wonderful childrenone born five years ago, and the other only recently.

Let me recall a situation that once happened to me, and it still comes to mind every so often.

It all began when my mother-in-law handed me a list just after Id married. The list contained all sorts of instructions, such as foods my husband is allergic toa detail I took quite seriously. This mattered, of course. One particular suggestion was that I must always iron his underwear, as apparently if theyre not ironed, they might cause bruises in delicate places.

At the time, I thought, well, shes just a caring mother. After all, it is rather touching when a mother goes to such lengths for her son. I did my best to follow every tip from that list, and none of it was terribly difficult. Still, ironing underwear left me rather perplexed, as neither I nor my own mother had ever bothered with such a thing.

When my son was born, we began, as most do, with nappies, but once we made the switch to proper pants, I simply began to iron his little briefs tooout of habit, mostly. So there I was, ironing undies for two people, and soon enough, the piles on the ironing board resembled tottering hills. I continued obediently simply because my mother-in-law would remind me that the hot iron and steam would eliminate any germs. She even insisted our little boy should never go without pressed pants, as it was vital for his health down there.

Really, its less about my mother-in-law and more about the arrival of our second child. Now, with two children and one just a babe, keeping up with everything exactly on schedule is nigh impossible. Im sure those who have cared for two little ones, one an infant, will understand. I do my best to make time for what matters, but the mountain of maybes just seems to grow and grow.

Only yesterday, my husband mentioned there were no clean pants on the shelfmeaning there were no ironed ones left. Id had a long day and told him hed have to make do with a pair from the crumpled pile.

He rang his mother while I was climbing into bed and explained that his wife simply hadnt the time. He sounded quite offended about it all. And so, the fuss was all about a pair of underpants.

Do any of you iron your childrens underwear? If so, how long do you keep it up for? And has anyone found a way to speed up the whole business of ironing?