by A mother has accused her estranged husband of ‘careless parenting’ after he failed to clean the house while she was at work.
Lynalice, who goes by @5kids5catssomedogstoo, shared a video on TikTok in August of her house cleaning it. The time-lapse began with shots of a bedroom, dining room, and living room, all with clothes, bags, and various toys on the floor.
Throughout the text above the video, she went on to explain that she had been working 10 hour days, for the past six days, and only had one day off because she was sick. She continued to show the stack of dishes in her kitchen sink and on the counter, as she wrote, “I’d like to pretend I’m not the only person cleaning, but as you can see.”
The mother also filmed herself making the bed and mopping the floor in a bedroom. “These rooms don’t get much attention when I’m not here,” she continued. “Especially the kitchen counters.”
When her kids stepped in to help pick things up off the floor, Lynalice explained how her soon-to-be ex usually didn’t step in when it came to cleaning the house.
“While the summer session was underway, my soon-to-be ex-husband said he couldn’t watch the kids while he focused on his homework,” she wrote. “Now that school’s out, he doesn’t have that excuse anymore.”
The video progressed to Lynalice cleaning the dining room. She criticized her ex-boyfriend for not taking care of the children when she was home.
“Every single day after I get home from work, I’m met with one disaster or another caused by inattentive parenting,” he wrote. “Shampoo on the carpets in the girls’ room. Nail polish on all Nugget roofing, hair and carpeting.
Lynalice continued cleaning the living room, explaining some of the other issues that had occurred at the house while she was at work. “Scissors were used to cut the hair, comforter, mattress cover, and TWO nugget covers,” she added. “Drugs that were introduced and destroyed… My ex lost his temper and destroyed my dog’s food bin.”
While discussing her husband, she claimed that he was prioritizing his work over his cars, instead of his family. “ALL of her attention has been focused on the four vehicles in our driveway that she wants to work on all the time.”
While Lynalice and her kids cleaned up the kitchen, she said her husband made a mess around the house too, due to his interest in cars.
“His obsession has reached an all-time high, and he’s even taken car parts into the dining room and left oil everywhere,” she wrote. “That’s because she stated that she needed to be able to watch the kids and just not doing the job wasn’t an option.”
She candidly expressed her hope of leaving her space, which she possesses with her soon-to-be ex, once she can afford to do so.
“I so wish the housing economy wasn’t what it was here and I could afford to move,” she wrote. “My soul aches with no place to feel safe and happy.”
As of April 24, the video has more than 7 million views, with TikTok users in the comments showing their support for Lynalice.
“All I’m about to say is I’m proud of you mom,” one wrote. “I’m going through the same thing and it’s hard for me to even clean…hugs.”
“Being a single parent while married is the worst,” added another. “I’m glad you’re changing that for yourself and the kids.”
A third said: “Children are definitely messy. I love how you recognized that these were “inattentive parents” and not “destructive kids; or something like that. You’re an amazing mom.”
Other people have shared their heartfelt reactions to Lynalice’s co-parent, after seeing the messy house.
“Anger that would consume me,” one reacted in the comments.
“There’s nothing more soul-draining than a ‘partner’ who is actually an extra child,” added another.
In a video posted to TikTok earlier this month, Lynalice revealed that she’s moved into a new home, having moved out of her previous one two months ago.
The independent reached out to Lynalice for comment.
Over the years, research has found that women do more housework than men. According to a study published by the British Medical Journal in August 2021, researchers found that women worldwide do three times as many housework and care jobs as men, “with women in low- and middle-income countries spending more time on unpaid work compared to women in high-income countries”.
While the time spent on domestic work has increased for both men and women during the pandemic, “the increase and intensity of this work has been far greater for women”.
