Parental Crime – Mummy dearest
So I was in Aksara bookshop in Plaza Indonesia the other day. I was busy scanning the...
Parental Crime – Mummy dearest
So I was in Aksara bookshop in Plaza
Wait a minute.
Two nannies? For one child? Jayzuz, woman. I know you are rich, but two nannies? Come on. What, do you need one for feeding and the other one to clean up all the mess afterwards? And what do you do when those two girls are busy taking care of your child? Just stand there looking good and relieved for not having baby puke all over your Marc Jacobs?
Whatever happened to good parenting? How can these people think that it’s okay to give birth and hand over the responsibility to someone else(s)? And don’t give me that crap about the pain of labor – they all have Caesarean. I just know it. If they can’t even take the responsibility to look after their own offspring, I doubt they can actually bear the pain of delivering their child the natural way.
I’ve been noticing this Nanny Thing everywhere I go. Mostly in huge luxury shopping malls, where the mother will be engrossed flicking through hangers after hangers of clothes while the nanny is busy struggling to wipe melted ice-cream from the toddler’s chin. And you’d be surprised to know that there are children as old as ten who are still accompanied by their nannies.
When I was ten, I was perfectly able to wash my own hands – and chin – in the sink. When I was thirteen, I knew how to wash, iron and fold my own clothes. My mammy taught me well. I remember how she used to put the guilt on me whenever I did something not to her liking, in which she would say something like, “How could you do this to your poor mother? I gave you the gift of life! I raised you since you were a baby, with my own bare hands! I fed you and took care of you, woke up in the middle of the nights for you and having puked up and pooped all over, and this is how you repay me?”
Understandably but quite annoyingly, mothers have the rights to say those things, because they sacrificed so much for us. That’s why we are more prone to guilt on mothers, because they are the ones who spend the most time with us since we were born. While our fathers generally would be the breadwinner, the mothers were the ones waking up at one, three and four in the evening, feeding us, singing lullabies for us and be the last face we saw when we went to sleep.
But now all those roles are simply replaced by the presence of nannies – of whom unfortunately the child would feel more secure with, and thus come the worrying feeling of the mothers that they are unrecognizable to their own children because of the lack of time they are willing to spend.
I’ve seen it happen. I even have friends who expressed the very same fear to me. Therefore, I am thoroughly unsurprised to find that these children will, in the future, grow up to be selfish, spoilt brat who thinks that the world owes them something. Why? Because they are raised with the notion that must have everything they want, which is evident by the parents who, in making up their lack of time spending with their children, alternate to lavishing them with junks that cost more than the monthly salary of an average nanny.
Thinking back on the daughter and the parents with the two nannies I saw at the bookstore, I can just imagine the future daily conversation that this mother and daughter will have;
“Annabelle, finish your meal, dear.”
“No, it’s foul. I hate Brussels sprouts. I’ve told you that, like, a gazillion times (sneering).”
“(Bored and slightly pissed off) Behave. Now finish your meal and do your homework.”
“No! Just leave me alone! (Cutlery clatters)”
“(gasp and enraged with pre-menopausal hormones) How dare you speak like that to me??? I. Am. Your. Mother! I raised you since you were a child. I fed you-No. Wait a minute. I didn’t. Your nanny fed you. Well, I cleaned up all your messes since you were in diapers-No. (Faltering) Actually, I didn’t. Ok. This conversation never happens.”