A Mother’s Helper: What Is It and Why You Need One
Many parents, regardless of whether they have one child or a few siblings, acknowledge that their lives often remind them of the rat race, being torn between household chores, childcare, and work. However, unfortunately, not all of them can afford the cost of a nanny. Sounds like a familiar story?
In that case, you should definitely look up a mother’s helper. With a mother’s helper, you’ll feel less overwhelmed and get more work done without burning your family’s budget! Let’s explore the duties of this role and how having a mother’s helper can benefit your family.
What Is a Mother’s Helper?
A mother’s helper is a person who helps a parent, typically a mother, with childcare and household duties while she’s still at home. Most often, mother’s helpers are hired to help with things like feeding, changing clothing, and playing with children, but they may also be asked to help with light housekeeping jobs, too.
The key difference between a mother’s helper and a babysitter is that a mother’s helper works alongside a parent, while a babysitter takes full responsibility for caring for the children in their absence. Apart from that, unlike babysitters, who are required, if not qualified, then at least experience in raising their own kids, mother’s helpers can be very young.
What Are the Duties of a Mother’s Helper?
As the name suggests, the duties of a mother’s helper revolve around all aspects of a parent’s assistance. This can include:
- Picking up kids from school;
- Driving them to and from activities;
- Feeding;
- Helping with changing clothes;
- Doing homework together.
In addition, they could help with other domestic tasks, such as cleaning, cooking, ironing, shopping, etc.
Should you need to go to a shopping center or a hairdresser, a mother’s helper could go with you to watch your kids, allowing you to spend as much time there as needed.
A Mother’s Helper Vs a Nanny – What’s More Appropriate?
Generally, mother’s helpers are hired to help stay-at-home mothers. However, there are also many live-in nannies who basically do the same job, which can make the choice of the right caregiver quite confusing for parents.
If you’ve stumbled upon the dilemma, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Are you looking for someone to care for your children and provide educational support?
- Do you need a person to help train your child to a potty?
- Does your child have special needs and you want a caregiver to provide personalized care?
- Or maybe you’re just looking for someone to help with household and routine tasks, including basic care for children?
In case you answered “yes” to the last question, a mother’s helper would be the right fit for you. However, if you caught yourself thinking that you may need a bit more specialized care, it’d be more appropriate to hire a qualified nanny.
How to Convince Your Partner You Need a Mother’s Helper
Men are men, and it can be quite hard to get them to do something that they are not sure about. What makes things worse is that they often believe that if a mother doesn’t go to work, she can handle everything on her own. Obviously, this isn’t the case, but they wouldn’t know it until you actually say it. So, here are a few things you can do to sway your partner’s opinion.
Describe Your Day
Instead of hoping that your partner will guess what you go through everyday changing nappies, prepping meals, feeding, and trying to do some work, it’s best to speak with them about it directly. Surely, it shouldn’t sound as if you’re blaming them for not helping you enough. What you want is to make sure they understand that you’re doing a lot of work, even if it may not seem like it.
Mention Tasks That Haven’t Been Done
To make a strong case, create a list of jobs that you struggle with because of a lack of time. Whether it’s a deep cleaning of carpets, doing laundry, or simply paying more attention to your partner, there must be something that will trigger the right emotional response.
Negotiate
If they’re still in doubt, why not suggest giving it a trial? At the end of the day, hiring a mother’s help doesn’t have to be a long-term commitment, and if you both decide that it’s not what you need, no one will force you to keep doing it.
Conclusion
To bring it to an end, hiring a mother’s helper offers plenty of benefits, ranging from childcare to light cleaning jobs to helping with meal preps. Besides, the cost of their hourly rate is nowhere near as expensive as that of a nanny. So, if you’re looking for someone to free yourself up from domestic chores, a mother’s helper can be the answer.