I am happy to receive many useful comments from my previous post about getting a maid. I love it that my blog is like my own personal forum. Thank you to all those who gave feedback, their ideas and opinions. They are things that only those who have experienced the process can think of. Hmm… managing a maid really is no simple task is it? You’ve got to have really good people skills as well as good communication skills in planning and laying out the tasks and making sure its done and lots of patience and tolerance too. Its not just a matter of hiring a maid and saying “Nah… you do the work.” Its a lot more than that.
One of the commentors, Adrian reminded me about the issue of how we want our kids to interact with the maid. I think one of the things that the kids must be taught from the start is to treat the maid with respect and not someone to be at their beck and call to do their tasks for them. Kids, are well kids and they have to be told and taught otherwise you will have the scenario of the maids scampering around the kids at their whim and fancy, feeding them, chasing them around, wearing their shoes etc which is something I do not want my kids to learn.
I remember when I was a kid, after my mum passed away, my aunt came to live with us for a year to help us out. After she left, we had a maid to help out. Her name was Ah Yoke. We the kids did not know better then. Imagine this scenario. There were 5 of us and we all had the kick of constantly calling upon Ah Yoke to make us iced coffee. “Ah Yoke, Kopi Ais!” we would call out. We thought it was real cool to have someone make iced coffee for us whenever we felt like it. Poor Ah Yoke. I wonder how she ever got any work done around the house with the 5 of us interrupting her for our Kopi Ais.
Fortunately Ah Yoke was only with us for a short period of time so we did not turn out to be spoilt brats. We all learned independance at an early age because mother was no longer around to pamper us. We learned how to cook at an early age. We would take the soggy catered soya sauce chicken and refry it. Hahaha. We ate catered food for years. How I hate peeking into the tiffin carrier only to see the same unappetising dishes for dinner. We also had a timetable for whose turn it is to throw out the trash, sweep the floor etc. Of course we fought over the timetable too. Lol!
Anyway, this post is not about my childhood but it is a reminder that just as I am going to set the rules for the new maid, I will also set the rules for the kids from the beggining so that they do not rely on the maid too much and they are to treat her with respect like any other member of the family.
Discipline is a must
Otherwise…….
sorry to hear that you lost your mum at an early age.. must be tough ya? well, kids tend to take advantage of everyone if given a chance so yes, need to set the rules in advance 🙂
Yah, bettter set the rules ahead instead of trying to change halfway, that would be harder.
I agree with your para 2. Kids should be taught to respect the maid. I have seen/read far too many cases where spoilt brats just order the maid around and even scold them. They must have learned from their elders 🙁
Kids always learn from their elders. We’re the first influences, followed by tv and outside influences but we’re the first!
Other than teaching them to respect the maid, don’t ever complain about the maid within their earshot or show disapproval about the maid in front of them, somehow, the kids would know who’s the boss and will tend to follow what the adult do.
Our current maid is quite “inefficient” , I do complain a lot to hubby or just mumbling to myself, the kids pick that up and has lesser respect (sometimes to the extend of being rude :() to this maid compare to the previous one. 🙁
Thanks about the reminder to not complain in their prescence but sometimes in the heat of anger or frustration we forget… 😛
My kids are 3 and 2.how do i get them 2 respect maids and not 2 grow spoilt?
At this age, I guess the best way is to SHOW them how YOU respect the maid.