We started doing our own laundry at 4th grade for the express purpose of my mom "was not going to have kids who went off to college not knowing how to do their own laundry."

Someone chided me today for expecting mac to get himself ready in the mornings (dress, school bag, brush teeth). hell yes he will, 2nd grade is plenty old to do all that without multiple proddings.

she was clueless when it came to folding.

I still am. Terrible folder, me.

I'm not sure I want NF in eyeliner. What I was contemplated earlier today was NF having a guest spot on FNL and I nearly LOST MY SHIT.

Not NF, just men in eyeliner, like the wet men, men in glasses and men in skirts. (Note that I will not actually request this, for ita is benevolent and I totally appreciate all the pretty she's already provided).

To the last part: YES!

A local county has passed regulations requiring decent treatment for live-in nannies, etc. There have been some truly horrendous cases of women, usually brought from another country, being held in virtual slavery.

Yeah, I didn't have to make my own bed weekdays until I was 12. I'm not sure when I'd have had to start if we hadn't left Jamaica. And I've still never done my laundry on the island. The arrangement confuses me. Besides, the lady gets paid.

msbelle, I don't think what you're asking mac to do is unreasonable, but my upbringing wasn't exactly the norm. But getting dressed, etc., isn't exactly child abuse.

Ironically, since my mother truly hated housework, I was pretty much running the house by the time I was 14 (laundry, ironing, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning up, setting and clearing the table, washing and drying dishes). When I went to college at 17, I didn't have any of that, except for my own room ... and we had maids who would dust and vacuum once a week (it was heaven).

I've never had to make my own bed!!! (My parents didn't care if it was made or not)

I could never really appreciate Katharine Graham, accomplishments and all, after reading in her autobiography that when she went to college she didn't wash her clothes for the first semester (cashmere sweaters were the item described I think), not because she didn't know how to wash them, but because she didn't realize that at home they had been taken away by the maid and washed and returned to her drawers. Not knowing how to wash sweaters is one level of privilege, but not *noticing* that someone is washing your clothes for you is a whole 'nother level of privilege. And I just couldn't get over it.

yeah, I don't care about a made bed unless a guest is coming over.

I wonder how much an au pair costs, anyway. I don't have kids, but I do have cats, and lots of small jobs around the house....