Open Thread

My family in Jamaica have live-in help. But the kids still have chores. They have to make their beds, clean their rooms, clear the dishes from the table and some outside yard work. As we got older we would help with some of the cleaning and were responsible for laundering our own unmentionables. Even though we grew up with help we all learned how to cook, clean and take care or a house.

CGar- I removed the wire hangers from your closet. AGAIN. How many times have we spoken about this? NO WIRE HANGERS!!!!!

Going back to the issue of the “tradeoff” between spending time with your kids and cleaning around the house.

I would submit to you that alot of kids I see in places like Park Slope would be better served if their parents spent more time doing household tasks with them to teach them the value of work and responsibility, not to mention putting some order in their over-indulged life.

I’ll use my next door neighbor’s kids as an example. They are sweet children, but they need some discipline in their lives. Their parents indulge them in all the things that one sees today: camp, lots of family vacations, etc. Last summer, someone gave the little girl a plant to grow on the terrace. She watered it for about one week. Then, the family had another one of their vacations, and the plant was dead. What kind of lesson is that for a kid?

My last job involved me going to Jamaica several times to do projects at my employer’s hotels. We would usually end up at his farm deep in the middle of the island, where we stayed in a big barn-like guest house, with many en-suite rooms. He had a large staff that took care of the farm, which included at least 4 or 5 ladies who did all of the cleaning and cooking. I can see how easy it is to get used to having the help, but I was never comfortable with it. I would make my bed only to come back to find it remade with fresh linens, the bathroom scrubbed and the room tidied. We’d go to the main house and sit on the verandah and have breakfast, and get up and go to work. Some people would just leave the dishes on the table and walk off, which was expected, but I always took mine in and put them in the sink or give them to one of the ladies. I couldn’t help it. There were people around to do absolutely everything. My boss had no worries or concerns about whether there was food in the fridge, or towels in the bathroom, or if the grass got mowed. What a life.

This was, hands down, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my life. I wish I could go back.

Love that video- my favorit John Lennon song too. Thanks, Biif.

Heard from M4L- he’s visiting the in-laws.