20th July, 2010
Back in our days in school, women were known to be good house keepers. A girl from the age of three is taught to sweep and clean the house and one of the criteria for choosing a good wife is her ability to keep the house clean and safe. 
Housekeeping is not just about the house being clean, it also entails safety in the home. In this article, I am going to talk about cleaning, safety and feeding in the home.
Let us start with the issue of feeding. It is really sad that women of my time have lost it when it comes to taking care of the children and feeding them with the right nutrients. I always feel bad when I see ladies who call themselves mothers, dress so well, only for their children to look unkempt and haggard.
•Feeding:
You can take your children to Adams Stores and other designer outlets in the world. Some mothers go the extent of overloading their kids with so much gold and diamond jewellery. Well done madam, but I must tell you that no matter how much you spend on them, they will never be able to stand out without good nutrition.
The number of eateries keeps increasing on daily basis. I once told my audience in one of my beauty and fitness seminars that they are only helping women become lazier by the day as most women no longer create time to cook for their children because to them, they enjoy fast foods better. Woman, nothing can ever take the place of good home cooking.
These days, all girls learn how to cook is fried rice, chicken and chips, fried plantain and Indomie. What has happened to our African dishes that are unbeatable when it comes to nutrition? I hear a lot of women shamelessly talk about their children not liking Nigerian dishes. That is because you did not bring them up to enjoy them.
You did those things in your effort to let them know their father is rich and can afford whatever they want. You made that great mistake by trying to become whiter than the white man himself. If I may say this, African dishes remain the most nutritious in this world.
You may think you are punishing your house help when you give her the well cooked beans to eat and have your children eat Indomie and egg. The poor girl is getting more nourished and that is why she reasons better than your own children.
I have a cousin whose wife, a bank manager, came up with the excuse of her job being the obstacle to her cooking in the home. This woman enters any eatery on her way back from work to buy soup and swallow for the family. Most times, I hear people get so excited about Calabar Kitchen and their good cooking.
I remember the first time I ate their food. It was when I was in NYSC camp. I had asked a friend coming to visit me to buy soup and swallow from a very popular outlet in Lagos, but couldn’t even finish eating half of the food. I concluded that most men, who are crazy about these kitchens, are those, whose wives cannot cook well.
You should have a very good food menu in your kitchen which can be reviewed monthly. I let my children prepare our menu and they make sure it is followed strictly.
Don’t bring up your children with this crazy mentality of having them eat whatever they like at all times. They may never go for the nutritious ones. You just have to put your feet down sometimes and have them eat what is nourishing.
The Kitchen:
I will start with the first office of a woman—the kitchen. So many kitchens are now breeding centres for cockroaches and rats. As women, we are easily tempted to buy both the necessary as well as the unnecessary things and the kitchen then becomes so congested that there is hardly a space for cleaning. This is wrong, there should be free movement of people and things in your kitchen.
So many people have their kitchen fridge very dirty with so many spoilt items and foul smell. I always advise people to keep drinking water away from food items as that leaves the water bottle with disgusting smell of food.
Cups And Cooking Utensils:
Most times, when I drink water in people’s houses, I feel like throwing up. Not because they are dirty, but because they lack the proper knowledge of cleaning. So many people make the mistake of using the same sponge for plates to wash drinking cups and that leaves the cup with that oil smell that portrays you a dirty person. There should be a special sponge for washing of your cups. It is more hygienic, spreading used newspapers on the kitchen cupboards before keeping your plates.
In cleaning your pots, know the right kind of sponge meant for it. Some pots are nonstick and for this class of pot, your regular iron sponge should not be used.
The Living Room:
Sorry to put it this way, but so many houses stink. Children are allowed to sleep and urinate on the chairs and rug. They carry water around the house and pour on surfaces that smell once they come in contact with liquid. Some women come up with the excuse of having little babies at home. I have four children and on no occasion did my house, even the rooms, smell.
Some women allow their toddlers scatter things all over the living room. Because you have a toddler doesn’t mean everyone should pack out of the house. This is one of the things that make your husband stay out late. Some men cannot confidently bring their friends home without first informing their wives about the visit, this is because they don’t trust the ability of their wives to always have the home in good shape.
So many air fresheners we have in the market come with very awful smell. A lot of people now produce some liquid air fresheners that leave the house with very bad smell. Please try to make the right choice to save your household that nauseating feeling.
The Bedrooms:
Your children should be taught to clean their bedrooms and keep things at the right places. As for your husband’s room, it is not the duty of your house help to clean it, she can clean yours, but definitely not your husbands. This is one duty you should never delegate to anybody. The cleaning of his bedroom, washing of his under wears and cooking of his soup, are strictly your duty. A well cleaned bedroom with soft lights, adds ambience to life and brings out the romantic side of your man.
The Toilets:
The toilet is another place in the home where visitors assess the woman’s level of hygiene. So many toilets exhume foul odour, while women make the mistake of using all those strong liquid antiseptics to wash them. This leaves the whole house with that very unpleasant hospital smell.
There are so many good liquids for cleaning the toilet. I go into people’s toilets and see those very beautiful coloured tissue papers. They are beautiful but not safe for a woman’s use.
Your job and business should never take your eyes off your home. Create time, at least once in every month, to properly and thoroughly clean your home, while your children should be brought up to fully understand what cleanliness is.
Remember, cleanliness is next to godliness and a clean environment is a godly environment.