When Yaya Needs A Vacation

Let's face, everybody needs a break.  We need a break from work, a break from prying eyes, a time-off from all that stress. Why do you think wellness is such a hit nowadays? It's because of modern man's need to get away from all that stress.  It simply affects everybody, without exception.

So, even if your yaya doesn't do a lot of work at home except caring for your kid, she still needs a vacation.  In all honesty, she DESERVES it.  Really.  And it's never easy to take care of a kid, and if your yaya also happens to run the household when you are away, then the work doubles.  

The reasons why employers do not normally let nannies go on vacation are various.  Some rely on the maid or yaya to manage the household, so when they leave CHAOS is the next word that comes to mind.  But most of us (Filipinos like me, most especially!) think that the real reason why a nanny wants to go on a vacation is because she has found another employment opportunity elsewhere and is leaving you FOR GOOD.  Actually, most helpers really do this and use the explanation that they are needed back home, a family member is sick that somebody has to take care of him/her, or their house has been destroyed by some natural calamity.  While the real crafty ones ask for a salary advance, the truthful ones never ask for any money except the last paycheck they get from their employers.  And then they leave for good  -  never to return.

But regardless of what other helpers do, your yaya needs a break.  You cannot take that away from her.  Of course, there is always the fear that she will not come back, but if she is treated fairly and like family, what is there to lose?  You always hope that she comes back and remember the goodness you've done to her.  Little acts of kindness really go a long way, and more so with helpers who depend their salary on you. 

My kid's yaya will be going on a vacation in a few weeks time and will be gone for more than a week.  I had to bargain with her a lot on the period that she will get her break, but we've managed somehow to agree on when to schedule her vacation.  And she has chosen it during Octobers and the summer season.  I let her go.  Do I feel worried?  Of course I do!  With a responsible and sweet yaya like her, she will easily find a job at no time at all.  But I have to trust her that she will come back.  In the meantime, we are revving (PSYCHING) ourselves that the next few weeks will be crazy without her in the household.  We'll be doing the laundry ourselves, cooking, shuttling our kid back and forth to school and to my in-laws, and more.  It's tiring, it's hectic, it's crazy!

I'd like to think we've been very fair and reasonable with her.  We treat her practically like family!  She has refused us to send her to school, but we are still hoping she'll take the bite.  But more than that, we hope, like anybody else, that she will realize she is a big part of our family just as we hope to be in hers.