Thursday, April 12, 2012
Domestic Labor
When I was younger, we had a babysitter/house keeper. My parents both worked so she took care of me from when I was in or right before I entered pre-school to 5th grade. She walked me to school, fed me lunch, bathed me, clothed me, brought me to play dates, walked our dog with me when we got her in 3rd grade, and then did her normal house cleaning. I never felt as though I was as emotionally attached to her as the authors from this week's reading all brought up. Like maybe when I was younger I did, but I still remember my mother being my primary parent. My babysitter never replaced that position. My mother didn't neglect me nor not want to be with me, it was just that she had to work. As I got older and started to understand the ways of the world a little more, I did understand that feeling of superiority that was also mentioned in the articles and it did make me feel a bit awkward because we'd had her so long and she was doing this stuff. I felt bad because I knew she had left her family back in Guatemala and was sending the money back home. This was probably not what she had planned to do. But she was very helpful and nice to have around.
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I have had a very similar experience to yours except my caretaker was present in my life from maybe 2 years to pre-K. I don't remember her all too well but she took me to all my activities and watched over me when my mom had work. One thing that hasn't been too significant until this topic this week was the fact that I used to call her "Mama". I mean, how crushing is it for my mother to hear that your daughter is calling another woman your "Mama".
ReplyDeleteI still consider my mom to be my true mom today. To be honest, I kind of forgot about "Mama" until this week. Which I mean goes to show that Latina workers go invisible within the American household.
I understand where Monica's coming from. I feel like if your parent sets up a more professional relationship with the domestic labor, then a finer distinction is drawn. It's when that line becomes fuzzy that the confusion arises.
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