Over the last few years, Yashy and I have slowly settled into our respective parenting roles: Yashy handles most of the cooking, bathes the kids, and gets the Little Monkey up for school. I handle the laundry, the nighttime teeth brushing, the storytelling, and much of the entertaining. Together, we handle the diaper changing, the disciplining, and the cleaning.  No job is easy, and all are constant parts of our daily lives, but a few of the roles present some real challenges, along with some unpredictable outcomes. The cleaning might be the biggest struggle. YES Daddy is in charge of the laundry so stains are my responsibility. I’m also the only one who remembers to buy detergent when it’s on sale at Canadian Tire. In this household it isn’t the mom doing the laundry!

Cleaning is an ongoing war in our house, and not every item survives, but the one thing we try to keep usable is the clothing. Yashy is smart; she knows what looks good on her and finds clothing that is fashionable but not overpriced. Myself, I’ve taken a liking for the comfort of expensive jeans and polo shirts, and so with two small kids, I am living on the edge of disaster. As for the little ones, they’re munificent grandmother has loaded their drawers with more clothes than 10 kids would need, but of course, each of them have favourite articles of clothing that they would wear everyday if given the chance. On top of that, the Little Monkey must follow a school dress code that allows for navy blue and whites only. Whites! Let’s just say that a few other, unwanted colors get thrown in with those whites during those long days at school.

When we were invited to take on the Persil ProClean challenge, (a brand I had recently become familiar with thanks to an amusing line of ads featuring the Professional, a James Bond like hero crossed with Seinfeld’s Puddy), I was eager to give their detergent a try.  The detergent looked pretty promising, having recently dethroned Tide in a recent consumer reports test, and brings more than 100 years of product innovation to Canada. Having lived in England for a bit, Yashy was familiar with the brand and given her love for most things European, she loves the Persi ProClean scent on her clothes. She’s also allergic to Tide and most detergent brands so we’ve been careful in what detergent enters our home.

Persil ProClean offers five different detergents in Canada(Original, Intense Fresh, Coldwater,  Persil ProClean Power-Pearls and 2in1) and each has its own perks and works on all machine types. The new energy-efficient cold-water formula developed specifically for Canadian consumers is sure to be a favourite for home owners. For us condo dwellers who aren’t exposed to utility bills, the Persil ProClean 2in1 liquid laundry detergent and the Persil ProClean Power-Pearls are faves for providing us with a clean laundry pile. I especially need the Power-Pearls to handle Yashy’s whites. Every year she adds white pants, dresses and shirts to her collection and the kids are on a mission to destroy them. This year I managed to get last year’s pants sparkling white and she was impressed.

Here are some of the laundry ordeals I deal with as a parent:

• My kid has been crying for 20 minutes, not because of hunger or exhaustion, but because something small didn’t go according to exact expectations. Finally after 20 minutes, I figure out a remedy and then proceed to continue with the plans I had before the outburst, but as I hold and comfort the little one, oodles of snot are being smeared onto my shoulder, and on some days I forget to carry tissue. Well, that mucus is going to stay there for a while.
• I am outside for a short walk and it’s been hours or maybe days since a recent rainfall. Out of nowhere, the Little Man finds a muddy puddle that I didn’t even notice. Whatever grime has accumulated in that puddle is now on the bottom of my pants.
• It’s been a long day and I plop myself down on the couch to relax. After a few minutes of bliss, I sit up and my hand brushes against the back of my jeans, only to find they are sticky and wet. I look down and my hand is red. Am I bleeding? Nope, I sat on a Strawberry the Little Monkey left there earlier. She decided that she was full and left the berry under the pillow on the couch. Maybe for later? Who knows?

These are just a few examples. I didn’t even get to the stains and smells you’ll have to deal with when the kids are sick, or worse, potty training. I sometimes think that I should not wear nice clothes, ever, but one gets sick of wearing the same tattered jeans and old t-shirt everyday, which I did for a while. I had started to worry that someone was going to drop some money in my Starbucks cup one day, thinking that I am hungry and in need of some new clothes.

As for the kids clothes, well, we just figure that we’d have to live with some of those stains; kids grow so fast that any tainted clothing won’t be around for long. We laughed when the Little Monkey started school and was instructed to wear those navy blue and white clothes only. Knowing what would happen, we stocked up on several white shirts and leggings anyway, some of which are now brown and probably no longer meet the code. But as I neared the end of my 4th year as a parent, I figured that it was time to start upping my laundry game. After cleaning up various spills and stains around the house by searching the Internet for solutions, I realized that clothing would be no different. For every stain, there should be some solution, right? Right now that solution is Persil ProClean for me. Having used it for the last two three months, I can’t deny that the power-boosted formula not only helps tackles everyday stains but also some mean ones like coffee, play dough and wine.

Having done some tests with Persil ProClean on a few of the stained clothing we’d given up on, I soon learned that some stains are stubborn but discovered that the trick is to pre-treat whites even before wearing it for the first time.

Pre-soak those whites (especially the armpit areas) before you wear it for the first time.

All you have to do is drop a little Persil ProClean liquid, let it soak and wash it before you first wear it. I’ve also learned the cardinal rule of stain removal: wash the cloths as soon as you can. Also, read the instructions and use EXACTLY what has been recommended.

Yashy isn’t great at following instructions and often pours way too much liquid or worse yet, stuffs a boat load of towels into our tiny drum, ensuring that everything comes out smelling like bad B.O!

Never over stuff your laundry machine! 

For us space strapped condo dwellers, the fact that Persil ProClean Power-Liquid formulas are available in three convenient retail sizes (1.18L, 2.21L  and 4.43L) means we don’t need to stock up on Costco sizes and trip over them in our messy, tiny closet of a laundry room. Persil has an extremely useful tips section on their website that help us parents deal with the pesky marker, mud, oil and crayon stains. I highly recommend checking them out the next time you’re left wondering “how on earth am I going to remove THIS stain?”