Yaya Problems

Yaya Problems: The perennial problem of a working mom.

There is no such thing as a perfect yaya. I take it as a blessing that my son gets along with his current yaya because she plays with him and treats him with care and love. Unfortunately, she does not back down whenever she feels threatened and is known to get into physical fights with other househelps and yayas. Since it does not always happen, we just cautioned her about it. But the incident last Friday was the last straw.

I was in a staff meeting last Friday when I got a text from my staff that my son's school called regarding my son. I panicked and called the given number immediately, which happens to be the number of the vice principal. All the while, I thought there was a problem with my son but apparently, it was with my son's yaya. She got into a physical fight with one of the other yayas inside the campus. I immediately called my husband who was thankfully at home, and he went to the school to talk to the school authorities. By all accounts, it seems my yaya would not calm down and even fought with the other party after talking with the vice-principal.

Since I did not see her the whole weekend, I only got the chance to talk to her this evening. For the first time, I invoked the "Fear of Sunshine" which I only use to discipline my son (it's a certain tone of voice that would call my son's attention and according to my siblings, would make your spine straighten) against her. I first let her explain what happened and based on her explanation, she was at fault and she admitted it. Long story short, I told her that there's a right place for everything. We don't care if she gets into fights as long as it is not in our house, not in our son's school and most especially, not in front of our son. I made her understand that her actions reflect badly on us and our child. Children might not play with our son anymore because they might think that he would fight with them as his yaya is a fighter.

We gave her warning that if she repeats it again, we will look for a new yaya for Basti. I really hope she behaves this time around.