I will start out by saying that when I am starting a family I do not plan to have a nanny. While I do know that raising kids and having a career is a difficult task I just feel like there is something wrong if I feel that someone else should be raising my kids and taking care of my house. What does that say about me as a parent? That I'm not good enough to raise kids? That I don't think my kids are worth my time?When I was younger my mom had a cleaning lady who came once a week while we were at school, but this only went on for a few years. I think it was because we didn't really need her. I grew up in a fair sized suburban house in the US and since moving to Israel a year and a half ago I have noticed an abundance of families who hire Philippinos to clean their houses and some to take their kids things like taking them to the park and picking them up form school. Maybe its because the parents a busy, maybe its because the nanny is cheap whatever the reason, the house sizes of these people in relation to what I grew up in makes me feel like they don't need it.
I can see having help every once in a while like a babysitter or even if I'm going to be hosting a party but to hire someone on a regular basis to come and do my dishes just seems a bit absurd! I know that we are all busy with our lives but there is just something so homey feeling about a house that is taken care of naturally.
The other week I was at a friends house and his mom was making a home made birthday cake for his sister's birthday with homemade frosting. The whole time I was there I was thinking about how I miss being at home with my family for birthdays and the cake my mom makes with the same frosting. Most of the places that I go to for the weekends people just buy cakes, pastries and challot but when you grow up on homemade stuff its so hard to go back to the bakery. Living away from home I've come to appreciate my parents so much more and I thank them for raising me the way that they did.