Laundry. It’s a task both adults and children seem to hate. Whether you’re a parent teaching your kid to clean up after themselves or an adult that has to do it out of necessity – no one finds the task fun.
What did your mom do when you left dirty laundry on the floor? Or, if you are a mom, what do you do when your children do it?
If you’re a parent, I bet your mom didn’t do what this mom did. My mom sure didn’t.
I’m not a mom myself, but I’m trying to imagine what I would do. And I think it would depend on a variety of circumstances. But I can assure you I would never think to start something that ends up looking like a shrine in my bathroom.
Here’s what happened.
Xep Campbell, of Port Townsend, Washington, found one of her daughter’s very dirty socks on the bathroom floor. Since this wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened, she decided that Instead of picking it up, she would conduct an experiment. In her Facebook post, she says,
“I decided not to toss it in the hamper but instead see how long it would stay there, sort of a sociological experiment.”
A week later, her 10-year-old daughter Kestrel still hadn’t picked up the sock. I’m not sure if this means she failed the test, or if the amount of time has some other deep sociological meaning. But that isn’t the point.
After a week had passed and the sock remained on the floor, Xep decided to up her game. Because surely, after this much time her daughter had seen the sock there—I’m guessing this was a shared bathroom—and picked it up.
I certainly knew better than to test my mom that way.
But Campbell is made of different stuff than my mom. As she tells TODAY Parents,
“I try not to take anything in life too seriously and we often play little jokes on one another, so I made the museum label and figured she would roll her eyes, laugh a little, and then pick up the sock.”
She wasn’t expecting what happened next.
Upon seeing the wannabe plaque on the wall, Kestrel texted her mom.
At which point I would have said, “Haha, you’re hysterical, mom.” And picked up the damn sock, because I would not expect her humor to last indefinitely.
Not Kestrel.
As Campbell said, her daughter,
“Gamed her shame.”
When Campbell got home that day her daughter informed her that she had made a pedestal for the sock. Because, a museum piece, right? It deserved a pedestal. Maybe even a glass case.
At this point, Campbell tells TODAY,
“I realized then the game was on. It sort of took a life of its own after that.”
And it did indeed.
Campbell decided that like any true museum piece, this objet d’art needed an awestruck audience.
From here, it seems that mother and daughter just got silly and started having even more fun with the dirty sock. And I have to wonder if this was also a stinky sock. Because who could put up with that for so long?
Regardless, an audience was formed. And not your typical museum type crowd of tourists with cameras. Oh, no. This was a crowd of barnyard animals.
And why stop at barnyard animals?
This whole thing started on US Thanksgiving, so there might be a natural transition here, at least in terms of holidays. And either mother or daughter is keeping up with what’s trending in the news.
As Upworthy reports, the newsworthy addition is a representation of the first monolith that popped up in Utah in November, and the subsequent ones that appeared as well. Why not add one to the bathroom?
And finally, the holiday theme.
Before long, a nativity scene appeared on and around the sock. Some more art was added to the museum bathroom wall. And eventually, a gorilla joined the barnyard animals. Perhaps for a bit of diversity?
With all of this going on, you might think the family had a huge bathroom, but that’s not the case at all. Imagine being not quite awake in the morning and trying to brush your teeth without stepping on the exhibit?
For those that know Campbell, none of this is likely surprising. She told Upworthy that she aimed to live her life in a way that positively impacts those she comes in contact with.
She explains,
“I always try to take the creative route whenever possible. There is a lot of beige in the world that needs to be countered. There are also endless possibilities to be creative with even the most mundane aspects of life. I tend to go for the weird option when it’s there.”
I think I’d like to meet her. Let us know what route you would have taken in the comments. Do you opt for a creative and funny parenting style or a direct and right to the point style?
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