In the Philippines, having a helper at home is very common. It helps make the life of a mom easier by assisting her in household chores and keeping watch over the kids while the mom is busy. In our household though, we haven’t had a stay-in helper for the past 4 years. I figured since the kids were no longer infants at that time, and I was a stay at home mom, it would do our family good not to hire a helper anymore.
True enough, the past years have shown us that there are several advantages of not having a household helper at home:
- It made everyone in the house more responsible. Every one in the house has their own household chores that they need to do. Dad does the cooking when he is home, daughter washes the dishes and gets the clothes from the wash area, son sets the table and helps in the yard work. When cleaning day comes, everyone helps in their own capacity. Oriental rug cleaning and other specialized cleaning tasks warrants that we hire additional services.
- It helps the kids realize that living requires hard work. They don’t grow up with a sense of entitlement to the pleasures of life. They learn life skills early on.
- It gave the family a sense of teamwork and goal-orientedness. Every one needs to cooperate if we want our house to look tidy and neat. If we want to make the living area more spacious, everyone needs to consider one another’s needs and compromise to achieve our goal.
- It gave us a spare rooom which we converted to our study room. It was God’s perfect timing when our helper left, we have also decided to homeschool our daughter. We eventually coverted the helper’s room to a mini library area and study room.
I definitely like it that I don’t have to worry about an additional person in the house. Moreso, I like it that the family has many bonding memories inside the house. It provides many opportunities to come to know each other and enjoy the atmosphere of our home together.