I am curious because our family have not had the experience: What does a househelper do? Do you assign the job to her/him when she/he arrives? Is it charged by hours?
My wife does not want any “stranger” to come to our house. I would guess: If a housekeeper comes to our house to help her for 2 hours, my wife might spend over an hour before she arrives in order to make sure everything that should not be seen or touched would have been put away. She definitely has the “trust” issue here, I think.
It’s not trust, I do the same when we had a cleaner. I had to move stuff and put important things away, otherwise I won’t be able to find it afterwards. It’s more stressful for me when we had a cleaner. Then we found out she didn’t vacuum under the furniture and bed. Caused huge allergies with me. But the house was spotty clean when she left. That’s why I don’t have a cleaner now.
We did hire baby sitters. When the baby sitter was at our home, my wife was together with both the baby sitter and our child.
The baby sitter’s job was to talk to our kid (when he was in kindergarten) because we were not able to teach our kid English. At one time, we hired 3 members (mother and two of her kids) as our baby sitters. The youngest brother of these two kids was our kid’s classmate in that year (that is why we know this family.) We actually like the younger “baby sitter” who is more playful and would be more willing to spend time playing with our kid. The older one just came here and sit there and “rest” and barely wanted to speak to our kid.
No TV, no Sesame Street?
Well…,in those early years, maybe too much TVs (well, mostly video tapes.) We bought almost all Disney’s video tapes, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc. (and audio tapes like Wee Sing, Hanks the cow dog?) Some of them might not be totally age appropriate (too “scary” for his age then.) Our kid demanded TV to be off at one time – then we knew we had overdone it!
Strangely, after his late elementary school, our family rarely turned on TV. We have almost never had cables. When we wanted to watch a movie, we rented from a Blockbuster store.
The ones we’ve employed long term all arrived w their own general cleaning routine, and they were all like miracle cleaning tornados going thru the house- no B.S.!
Our present hk does all the heavy cleaning, vaccuming, laundry, kitchen cleanup, tidying, dog walking, plant watering, and makes our beds daily and wipes down the bathrooms daily. She’ll do ad hoc tasks on requests.
Truth be told, as empty nesters we could do just fine w/o a hk. GMTspouse & I were poor growing up, and scrubbing a toilet is no big deal to us. The REAL reason we keep a hk is to have a dog sitter on retainer, so we can travel. :o3
Some typos are just plain funny… :))
And yes, I do think her parents should have watched it a little more closely. It's not like they didn't know she was going to Europe or that she clearly can't do 3rd grade math and divide $90k by 4. I have a daughter would would be fine and I have one who would, just like this girl, be shocked, shocked I tell you, that she's out of money after 3 years. <<<
[/QUOTE]
Watch a bit more is an understatement! Where is the parents’ responsibility if this story about morons? Were they happy to wash their hands of THEIR responsibility and be all too happy to skip a generation? Simply stated, one does NOT leave a clueless teenager manage the college budget, and they HAD to assume their share of the expected costs. And THAT is the first tenet of financial planning and aid!
This girl probably did not qualify for aid because of her trust AND the parental income and assets. A truly independent student could have made it work.
Sad story and guilty parties all around!
Xiggi, I’m tempted to hand my youngest child 2 years tuition and expense but your comment hold me back. The morons part.
The morons part is about the cavalier and irresponsible way this FAMILY navigated the college process. With a 90,000 gift, they should have been ahead of most.
It is wonderful if you can hand your youngest two years of expenses, but I doubt that an astute CCer would do this without a dose of control, advice, and guidance.
No I’m not sure it’s wonderful. Still debating.
@Mcat2 - Did he mow the lawn,do yard work, take out the trash ? I am a SAHM so I do most of the stuff around here but my kids still do some things. I having trouble believing that your son did nothing around the house at all…
^^ I meant that you’d be able to do it, if you wanted!
Mcat, I wish I had a son, because I would make sure all those privileges(being a make) are not going to waste.
MichiganGeorgia, If I remember it, he might have done it a few times. (Just to make sure he knows how to use the lawn mower, for example.) But we rarely asked him to do it. After he was older, we might ask him to help us make some calls on behalf of us. Oh…he would accompany his mother to many places (grocery shopping, malls) so that she would not be too bored to go there alone - what else could a mother without a D do?! He would also play some of HER favorite video games (i.e., any Tetris-like games) with her. Do these count as “chores”?
DrGoogle, My wife once said she would like to have a D so that she could have fun in dressing her up when she is growing up. Our S does not care what to wear – at least he was so until his dating age (which happened quite late for him. Then his GF’s opinion may carry more weight. LOL.)
Just had some conversation with a coworker recently, who has a college age son. He sort of complained that he had “very limited” contact with his S after his high school - likely once every two months. He thinks if he has a daughter of the same age, the situation would not be so “bad”. It seems his son still get along well with him but his S just wants his own life without too much interference from them, the parents. At least in his opinion, D may be “better” when she is in the college years.
I like my daughters. I came from a family with lots of boys so I know how it goes. I’m expecting my girls will take care of us in our old age, particularly my husband. He was a doting dad.
Is the youngest kid someone who will spend every dollar by tomorrow, or one who won’t spend a cent until absolutely necessary?
Years of upbringing may have molded the kid’s attitudes toward instant versus delayed gratification and money management to the point that whatever advice and guidance on these subjects in the summer before the kid goes to college may be futile for those kids who need it.
UCB, she has gotten a bit better. Both have learned from their mistakes with money. What I’m not sure is how much they’ve learned. Kid #2 is more aware the value of money now that she is working, did complain to me that eggs at Safeway cost $5 for a dozen vs Ralph’s $2.49.
^^^^^^Us too @DrGoogle. My sister in law couldn’t believe this and was SURE Our kids would live in filth. She was shocked last summer when my daughter was discussing the brand of broom she prefers ( Casabella) to use in her college apartment. “Well where did you learn to sweep?” She asked my kid. “Um it’s not exactly nuclear physics.” Was the reply.
Also my SIL. Can’t believe that I never did laundry til college.
90k/4 = 22,500
With a part-time job during the school year, and a closer-to-full-time job during the summer, this would have covered everything at Happykid’s U.
It is unfortunate that the young woman in the article wasn’t given good help with budgeting. Her parents and the other adults around her should be mortified.