EmQ : Thanks for offering ur words of wisdom. I think we shld be ard the same age, but i always find u much wiser than me... hehe...
I'm like what you described - those types who like to do everything for my kids. I do not allow my maid to bath them, do not like her to play with them or read with them. I'll personally make milk for them & sterilise the bottles myself too. Part of the reason is i dun trust the maid's level of hygiene, & partly bcos i dun want to be too reliant on the maid. At the end of 2 years, i dun want to feel we cannot function without a maid. Sometimes i get angry when the maid shift my things - move fm point A to point B... I'll make sure everything goes back to the original positions, while hb thinks i m kicking up a fuss, he feels i cld hv juz ask the maid where she put it. I disgareed with him lor, cos' i feel the maid shld follow my style, & not me following hers. I can let her be, but at the end of her contract, I'll be lost - dun even know where my things are... & i dun want that to happen. My mum oso think i m silly, employ a maid yet still trying to do so many things myself...... but i think i can still do things for my kids now, I'll still do for them. When #3 arrives, i may then hv to learn to let go...
I enjoy individual time with my kids too. Sat is bonding time with #1. I'll bring her to eat her fave food for lunch, then send her to 2 enrichment classes. We can chat during lunch & during the MRT rides. On Sundays, i allow my #1 to watch TV & do whatever she likes, while i try to spend some time with #2.
As for chatting with maid, i m not someone who takes initiatives to strike a conversation, so there's no way for me to chat with her. Moreover, MIL & hb are already very friendly to her, so i dun bother. She already told both of them abt her wkg history & her family, so u can imagine how much they talk. She even hinted to my MIL abt Hari Raya thrice, even tho she was with us for less than 1 mth. She oso told my hb she needs to take rice at least once a day, else she'll faint... & on the day of Hari Raya itself, she told my MIL that she feels giddy... i hv a feeling she may be playing game lor... (hb almost wanted to give her a treat on Hari Raya, but i objected .... he has promised to bring me to Red Star for dim sum that day, so I dun think the maid shld take precedence over his wife lor...hehe) ...but of course we dun ill treat her lah... she get to choose what she wants to eat when we dine out; we sent her to the doc when she had flu, & allow her to sleep in the afternoon, aft tkg her medications...
Well, aft more than 1 mth, i guess i still hv not adjust myself well enough... & probably bcos hb & all are nice to her, it makes me feel the more uncomfortable abt her... esp angry when hb take side with her when i grumble... sometimes i complain he treat her like the mistress of the hse, & me the maid... hehe...