The Maids Nation

Have you ever stopped in your track sometimes and wonder...what was life like before things like mobile phones, emails, foreign maids, Air Asia (and the list goes on)?

But my topic today is on maids.

No matter how hard I try to imagine myself in the shoe of today's working parents and also in the shoe of the kids being cared by foreign maids, I still prefer my childhood back then. Am trying to figure out why I have this feeling of...like, I observe the middle class children these days who live in nice homes with possibly everything they ever wanted in it and I cannot feel even the slightest tinge of envy.

I don't why is that. I feel that there is something strange, and unnatural in that picture, yes, unnatural.

Maids in these homes cook and clean...actually, there are two kinds of households with maids. The two vastly distinctive `maid-management' are -

type A family/household - the maids basically handle and execute all labour/chores in the household. A a simple way to describe these households with some examples

- family members do not help at all in any chores, all they do is wait for things to be done for them.

- maids do not eat before the family members, maids do not eat on the dining table, they are given their own eating quarter

- maids do not hang out in the living area of the family members, they stay in the kitchen.

- maids are servants to the children as well, follow them all over the house to feed them while they wander all over to play while eating.

if you think this sounds extreme? I have met families with these practice before you can't be too surprised.

type B family/household - the maids HELP around in the household, they assist the family in cleaning & cooking. They are basically part of the family, they are asked to join in meals with the family members and when the family dine out, the maids are brought along to eat. The purpose of the maids in these household are to help carry out the tasks where it can't be completed alone by the family members. The family members are not without their own duties, be it doing the laundry, watering the gardens, cooking and etc.

I guess I have swayed off my topic (hope you got my point though). Anyway, I have enough encounters with children these days to know that I wouldn't have wanted my childhood any other way. With our growing affluence in the society, middles class children are given the best education and the best entertainment/toys (measured by the price and its technology)...but what I see in them are nothing more desirable than prematurely vulgar attitudes.

The positive attributes of being well-exposed at young age is that they are outspoken, knowledgeable and eloquent. What is downright annoying is that they are spoilt, obnoxious, self-centred, rude....(feel free to add on to my list)..etc.

....I guess with that said, I am now an unpopular person with rather unpopular opinions but really, these are my observations, whether you like them or not.

My sister has two school-going children and a new born who turned one-month today, is someone I admire for her determination and dedication of staying `maid-free' until a few weeks ago. She and bro-in-law took care of their own home since niece Eva was born, my sister cleaned the house by herself, cared for the first two kids by herself. She stayed home and became a full time housewife, totally unglamorous compared to her old job (air stewardess). She only started working full time when Eva and Julian started school.

I do see the difference between my niece & nephew from the other kids who grow up having maids running after them. Sure Eva and Julian are well-pampered by their parents but they never had a full time maid taking care of their whims and fancy.

Now with her full time work at the family business (music school) and the newborn (Joel), she hired herself a foreign maid and joined the majority of the middle class community in KL.

I really don't think it is healthy to bring up a kid with lots of tuition classes, computer games, Ipods, mobile phones from age 7, designer clothes, and you name it, all the materials you can buy with money.

...all this talk and maybe you'll say what do I know about bringing up a kid, since I don't have one of my own.

I don't, but I know what feels right...having too much from young will not teach a young person to appreciate simple things in life -- and simple things are the best things in life.

*thank you Justin for posting the video link in the comment section. Click to watch...and to ponder.

I quote from the video, the ending note from Irene Fernandez (Tenaganita), on the maid-abuse issues in Malaysia -

"This nation is going to get the backlash, you are going to have families, bringing up children who believe it is normal to abuse, to treat others inhumanly and therefore, what I foresee is we will increase violence in our society if we do not address the problem today."