We've had our live-in housekeeper/nanny for eight months now. I haven't blogged about it as much as I thought I would. It's harder than you'd think to blog about someone who lives in your home, even when funny misunderstandings happen. For example, I found out recently that maybe one of the reasons my kids love toast so much is because when Carol makes it for them, she puts on butter, sugar, AND cinnamon-sugar (which I'm guessing she doesn't realize has sugar in it). Or there was the time I asked Carol to chop some vegetables (including an onion) for a recipe we've made lots of times, that I assumed she could make in her sleep. Only, earlier in the day, I had washed out the bowl I keep the onions in and so there were a bunch of onions sitting on a different counter in the kitchen, and when I walked in later...they had ALL been chopped. All of them. Our fridge smelled like onions for a WHILE. Anyway, stuff like that. Some of it is ha-ha funny but some of it is more exasperating.
So it's harder than you'd think to blog about this stuff, and it's also harder than you'd think to have a live-in housekeeper/nanny. Actually, we knew before we hired one that it would be challenging on a few levels, which is partly why it took us two years to work ourselves up to the idea. Here's an update on two of the major pros and cons of having a live-in housekeeper/nanny. You can see how sometimes the pros are also cons.
She is here all the time. Is that a pro or a con? You decide. For us introverts, this can be a major challenge. But for us busy parents who both have jobs, this is a blessing. Anytime we need to run out the door for a meeting or run upstairs to the majlis to get some work done, she's there to take over with the kids. But, again, anytime we want to just hang out in our underwear or eat all uncivilized-like on the living room couch...she's there. (Unless it's Friday, her day off, in which case we can do whatever we want, woohoo!)
We are giving someone a job. It's great to pat ourselves on the back for hiring someone legally and paying her well, and know that she is providing for her extended family back home. Really, it is. However, this feeling is sometimes a burden. She is responsible for supporting her family...and we are responsible for supporting her. When there's an emergency back home and Carol needs more money, she comes to US. And we are not heartless. But it's hard to be both an employer and a humanitarian. Those are two very different roles and you can't very well straddle the line between them and run a tight ship at home at the same time. At least not in my experience.
That's how it's going with our live-in housekeeper these days. Pros are sometimes cons, and vice-versa. Some days you don't know what you'd do without her, and other days you feel like doing everything yourself so you don't have to give detailed instructions for once. Never a dull moment.
So it's harder than you'd think to blog about this stuff, and it's also harder than you'd think to have a live-in housekeeper/nanny. Actually, we knew before we hired one that it would be challenging on a few levels, which is partly why it took us two years to work ourselves up to the idea. Here's an update on two of the major pros and cons of having a live-in housekeeper/nanny. You can see how sometimes the pros are also cons.
She is here all the time. Is that a pro or a con? You decide. For us introverts, this can be a major challenge. But for us busy parents who both have jobs, this is a blessing. Anytime we need to run out the door for a meeting or run upstairs to the majlis to get some work done, she's there to take over with the kids. But, again, anytime we want to just hang out in our underwear or eat all uncivilized-like on the living room couch...she's there. (Unless it's Friday, her day off, in which case we can do whatever we want, woohoo!)
We are giving someone a job. It's great to pat ourselves on the back for hiring someone legally and paying her well, and know that she is providing for her extended family back home. Really, it is. However, this feeling is sometimes a burden. She is responsible for supporting her family...and we are responsible for supporting her. When there's an emergency back home and Carol needs more money, she comes to US. And we are not heartless. But it's hard to be both an employer and a humanitarian. Those are two very different roles and you can't very well straddle the line between them and run a tight ship at home at the same time. At least not in my experience.
That's how it's going with our live-in housekeeper these days. Pros are sometimes cons, and vice-versa. Some days you don't know what you'd do without her, and other days you feel like doing everything yourself so you don't have to give detailed instructions for once. Never a dull moment.