There are people who don’t care about little messes and clutter. And there are those of us who long continually for clean surfaces, open spaces, and fresh scents. Women of the latter variety can be found hosting the Modern Lady Podcast.
On the show, two Canadian homemakers, Lindsay Murray and Michelle Sachs, reflect on the virtues and mindsets that lead to a clean, efficient, and beautiful home and meaningful personal improvement. Both mothers of four, they offer practical advice but also have unexpected tidbits about etiquette, historical factoids, and perspective-changing insights.
Through the Modern Lady, an encouraging companion to the daily dishes and whatnot, I was introduced to the YouTube channel Hamimommy. Run by the mother of a little girl named Hami, the channel features artistic vignettes of life in South Korea with a heavy emphasis on cooking and cleaning. The technical mastery of the videos makes for a visually stunning experience. Who knew cleaning could look so good?
In talking about YouTube videos, one of the hosts of the Modern Lady made an off-hand remark that after watching Hamimommy videos, her children cannot help but get up and start cleaning around the house. That sounded appealing! Children can appreciate the calm and order of a freshly cleaned home, but it takes a surprising amount of skill and awareness to maintain cleanliness.
On a dull morning when the opportunity presented itself, we undertook the experiment: We gathered around the electronic glow of a carefully orchestrated and edited cleaning video filmed on the other side of the world. Three little girls were mesmerized. To be fair, videos of any kind will mesmerize children of a certain temperament.
These videos offer inspiration, though. While watching some forms of activity inspires further passivity in us, visual media are tremendously powerful. There are times when watching someone perform an action gives us an itch to do the same. Of course, that can be nefarious and destructive (one needn’t look far to find that), but it can also be constructive. “Monkey see, monkey do,” as the saying goes.
So, did it work?
My error in video selection was to choose a Hamimommy video with far more cooking than cleaning. About two-thirds into the video someone from the audience announced, “I’m hungry!” While it didn’t result in an immediate speed clean, the video was, in fact, an inducement to positive action. It turns out, in the South Korean world of Hamimommy, there are a lot more vegetables in the meals, most of which are freshly prepared at home. We left the video hungry, not just for any food but for some sauteed onions and peppers.
Beyond just wanting idly, we got into the kitchen, chopped, sauteed, and made quesadillas stuffed with more vegetables than we’d ever felt the need to try. And they were delicious! First experiment results were mixed, but every once in a while, we will try more cleaning videos. If nothing else, we’ll have a veg-packed lunch.
