Ever had one of those days? Things are out of control at home, the house is a mess, you’re struggling to get the dinner on the table and the kids keep wrestling and fighting on the sofa.
You just want to scream…”Will you kids stop it!”
Stepping over the toys scattered across the lounge room like domestic landmines to pry your two warring offspring apart, you slip on Tommy’s skateboard and SNAP goes the ankle.
In pictures: Million-dollar bodies
Not only have you told him one million times to clear away his toys, but your broken leg has now thrown the household into chaos.
Your life flashes past your eyes. You can’t drive the car or do the grocery shopping, and routine housework like the laundry and cleaning now seem overwhelming.
How would you cope? Six weeks with the right leg in a cast…
In our family, my husband Peter would be forced to take annual leave to stay at home and keep the household moving. There goes the beach holiday. He wouldn’t be a happy camper.
Every six months, 1.7 million Aussie women injure themselves so badly they are unable to do their normal household chores.
Doing less housework! Maybe that’s a good thing.
Remarkably in Australia, the domestic goddess life is more dangerous than many people realise. Of those 1.7 million injuries, 1 million occur at home.
Far from being a castle, the family house is fast becoming as dangerous as living on the median strip of a four lane freeway.
Dislocations, sprains, torn muscles or ligaments are the most common injuries, followed by serious cuts and bruising.
Falling is the most common cause, closely followed by “hitting something” or being “hit by something”.
And younger women are more at risk than their mums. Research tells us that Gen Y (18-30 years) and Gen X (31-45 years) are more accident prone than Baby Boomers (46-64 years), while Gen X is also most likely to suffer in silence by applying their own medical treatment, rather than seeing a doctor.
Why don’t we know this? Why aren’t women speaking up to debate this issue?
Do we suffer in silence, or are we embarrassed we ruptured our left knee carrying the overloaded laundry basket down the stairs, while our best friend Tracey seems like a cookie cutter from Desperate Housewives, running the house with barely a hair out of place?
Go to work and injure your pinkie and HR is onto you quicker than you can say ‘valued employee’, to fill in a workers comp claim.
Why don’t we value our stay at home mums to the same extent? It’s about time we started talking about this.
Can I be the first one to confess? A few years ago I caught a heel on the top of our stairs at home and my legs buckled beneath me. I skinned both shins, sliding on my knees like David Beckham after scoring the winning goal.
I was in absolute agony. Naturally I soldiered on and refused to go to the local medical centre.
My three year old son witnessed the accident and raced off to get his ‘little doctor’s kit’ to fix mummy’s legs.
Related: Injured mums to be insured for housework
I might have had tears rolling down my face in pain, but there was also a smile on my dial from the love of my beautiful little Prince.
Lynette Argent is the CEO of Million Dollar Woman, an insurance brand designed to meet the needs of women.
Your say: Have you injured yourself in your home? If so what did you do about it?
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