Did you grow up with a nanny/governess/maid/servants etc?

liah

Has anyone grown up with a nanny, governess, maid, or help of any kind in their home, and if so, how were the help treated and how do you view them in comparison to your family or friends? Stories/experiences in general would be welcome.

Kind of an obscure question, I know, and I'm not even sure I'll get any responses, but I'm curious, I grew up poor and want to know what the other side is like

Anyone?

El Guapo!

Yep.
I called her Mam :pac:

Wolfe Tone

They can also tell us how that silver spoon tastes.

strobe

Ahhh so that's how they got you to move to Ireland Liah?

'Come to fair Eire where every home has an army of servants and every girl can live like a princess'

Fluorescence

Ye what?

whatdoicare

Oh lahdee dah!
:pac:

liah

I'm not saying it's common or anything! :pac: I just watched The Innocents last night and got thinking about the whole governess thing and figured I'd ask on the off chance there'd be someone who'd grown up like that. Always wanted to know what it'd be like.

Chris P. Bacon

Yes i did when my mam sent me to Bel Air,his name was Jeffrey.

bonerm

Our butler Stevens was a capital fellow. Always made sure I got an ironed copy of the Beano before my chauffeur drove me to school.

Unfortunately after many years service Steven's collapsed dead whilst serving us dinner. It's how he would have wanted to go.

Superbus

I'll admit to having a comparatively wealthy upbringing, but even so, it wasn't a possibility or even thought of. I don't think Irish families have a place for someone like that, the 'mammy' is too all-encompassing when it comes to childcare etc.

hondasam

strange question for us peasants !

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Not exactly, but we had a caravan beside our house and my dad was occasionally in the habit of finding strangers in the pub who were backpacking or whatever and letting them live there in exchange for child-minding. And our neighbour's barn looks like it's part of our property so people would sometimes come knocking asking if they could stay there and my dad would get them that way. Only happened three or four times but still.

Buceph

Both my parents work (and worked when I was a kid) full time. So I went to a child-minder from when I was three months old, until I was about 12. All day before I went to school, she brought me to a playschool near her house when I was three and four, then after school between the ages of 4 and 12, and all through the school holidays. My brother and sister went to her between the ages of three months and 15 or so. They pulled me out early at the age of 12 because I was getting spoiled.

She looked after us really well and is like a second mother. I haven't seen her in a while, but she'll always have a place in my heart, and the same goes for my brother and sister.


Edit: Although I don't think this thing is fairly uncommon in Ireland. There's loads of women with kids who are teenagers or older, who take in young children to look after after school and during the holidays, or while the kids are toddlers. I know my aunt does it for another child, and I've met a few people who do something similar, either with their own kids, or taking in other people's kids. It's not like an aristocratic British nanny at all. Just something older women do to get a bit of cash, and to have kids around when their own children are grown up. Almost like a surrogate Mammy because they like looking after kids.

Son Of A Vidic

Herself provides a truly amazing French maid service every now and again.

CrazyRabbit

The Mods/Admins on boards voluntarily serve me by keeping the site running smoothly.

They my bitches!

blaze1

mmmywhy yesssssssssss.

You, sir, are a cad and a bounder.

pragmatic1

No but my mother used to look after kids and my sister gets a few hours a week for her austic son. Really dislike the terms "maid" and "servant".

sunflower27

A friend of mine once rented a room in a share house in London. One of the guys was South African and had grown up with maids and a nanny etc.

He had no idea how to use basic appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher. He was also really untidy. He'd just leave stuff everywhere as I suppose he was used to someone picking up after him. He was late 20s....

Mena

We had live in maids from when I was around 4. Always treated as part of the family.

The only negative memory I have was when one cooked and ate a rabbit we had roaming the garden, I was young so it freaked me out.

Dudess

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Herself provides a truly amazing French maid service every now and again.

Your mam does? :eek:

AckwelFoley

My mother was my nanny, and now has passed on that task to my lovely missus.


Arse wiping duties not yet catered for, but im working on it.

dpe

sunflower27 wrote: »

A friend of mine once rented a room in a share house in London. One of the guys was South African and had grown up with maids and a nanny etc.

He had no idea how to use basic appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher. He was also really untidy. He'd just leave stuff everywhere as I suppose he was used to someone picking up after him. He was late 20s....

Lived in South Africa when I was small (2-5). Don't really remember much, but yes we had a maid. We weren't posh or anything (my Dad was an engineer in a factory over there), but back then it was normal. Came back because my Mum didn't like the Afrikaaners and me and my brother would have ended up conscripted when we grew up (this was all in the apartheid days).

silverspoon

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

They can also tell us how that silver spoon tastes.

What kind of girl do you take me for? :mad: :pac:

Poor Craythur

Buceph wrote: »

Edit: Although I don't think this thing is fairly uncommon in Ireland. There's loads of women with kids who are teenagers or older, who take in young children to look after after school and during the holidays, or while the kids are toddlers. I know my aunt does it for another child, and I've met a few people who do something similar, either with their own kids, or taking in other people's kids. It's not like an aristocratic British nanny at all. Just something older women do to get a bit of cash, and to have kids around when their own children are grown up. Almost like a surrogate Mammy because they like looking after kids.

Yeah, child-minding is common in Ireland and I wouldn't consider it "posh" to send your child to one. My neighbours did that with their kid because they both worked full-time and, believe me, these people have no airs and graces.

And my Aunt-in-law did child-minding pretty much for the reasons you outlined.

Oh, in one of my student houses, we had a cleaner come in. La-de-da! She was a fellow student, it was a handy little earner for her and we became friends. I deigned to become friends with the help! :P:D And she just did common areas and we didn't leave stuff lying around for her to clean up. She just did dusting, hoovering, that kind of thing. Our landlords wanted a cleaner and paid for her, so meh!

Fluorescence

I've always assumed Pighead is super rich and has a butler who types out all his posts for him. It'd explain much....

Solnskaya

It's AH, OP you'd be better off asking if anyone on here grew up in a house, or was it grass verge all-round.

Acoshla

I went to a child minder every goddamn day for 7 or 8 years, after school and every bloody weekday during the summer, from 8.30am until 6pm, absolute hell of a place. I left when I was 11 after I got sick of my child minder fecking off into town after school and leaving ME to mind her son, wtf?

My mother and her siblings had a nanny all their lives, they got her when my mother (first baby) was 2 weeks old and she stayed with the family for donkey's years, came to all the weddings and everything when the kids grew up. My grandmother did pretty much no minding after those first 2 weeks, not her cup of tea, much better with adult children than when they were kids, which is ironic because she died when my Mum was 25 and the others were 22, 18 and 14.

admiralofthefleet

my mate called me posh the other day

needless to say, i immediately had the butler show him the door

miss no stars

dpe wrote: »

Lived in South Africa when I was small (2-5). Don't really remember much, but yes we had a maid. We weren't posh or anything (my Dad was an engineer in a factory over there), but back then it was normal. Came back because my Mum didn't like the Afrikaaners and me and my brother would have ended up conscripted when we grew up (this was all in the apartheid days).

I think that's fairly common of anywhere that's ex-colonial territory. I lived in Malaysia briefly (from age 4-5) and we had an "Ama", who was essentially a nanny (looked after and cooked for kids) as well as cleaned the place. Wasn't uncommon really.

Ruu_Old

No but reminded me of a common quote from the Irish mammy handbook.
"What did your last maid die of?" :mad:

Stained Class

liah wrote: »

Has anyone grown up with a nanny, governess, maid, or help of any kind in their home,

Anyone?

Yes OP & welcome the the world of Class!:D

watna

sunflower27 wrote: »

A friend of mine once rented a room in a share house in London. One of the guys was South African and had grown up with maids and a nanny etc.

He had no idea how to use basic appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher. He was also really untidy. He'd just leave stuff everywhere as I suppose he was used to someone picking up after him. He was late 20s....

My Oh's cousin wants to move from South Africa to New Zealand, she was asking us loads of questions about living here and then asked if we had a maid :eek: I laughed, long and hard and told her I was the maid. I said she might get a cleaning lady for a few hours a week but even that was unusual.

Then I went to SA and it's like a different world. You go to restaurants and there's 10 people waiting on you. My OH's granny has a garden that is far too big for her to look after. My OH and his father wanted to do it for her while we were there but she had to point out to us that there were so many people needing work that if we did the work for them we would be stopping them from eating that day. We had to sit in the sun and read the paper while this 80 year old man did her garden. It was the weirdest thing but she has a point. We had money and he had none, he didn't want charity as he had some dignity he wanted to work for it. Really was an eye opener for me though.

pow wow

Our childminder had a telly that had a meter you had to throw 50p pieces into. It was an education!

When I went away to school in England some of my classmates were filthy, and I mean filthy rich - country estates, shooting on weekends, the whole nine yards. One girl in particular had me over to stay for a few days and her 'driver' came to pick me up. Once there the cook made dinner and the general dogsbody guy just shuffled about the house doing stuff. She started going out with a trainee electrician as part of her rebellion and the 'rents cut her off So fickle these rich folks.

Stained Class

These days, We've fallen on hard times however.

Mrs Class, sometimes asks me 'What did your last slave die of?'

I say 'I shot him for insubordination'.

Weirdly, she doesn't get it...

Earthhorse

Yeah, when I was younger, we had a nanny for a while. Pretty unusual set up I suppose (dad wasn't too rich, he worked in a bank). Anyway, some fond memories of those times. She was a lovely lady, very creative and imaginative with us kids, almost like a tutor in some ways but she was kinda unconventional too and got her marching orders after having us participate in a song and dance routine with some cartoon penguins.

phasers

lol as if anybody that rich would post here.

thunderthing

The odd time when my mam was lazy she'd get in a cleaner once a week, but they never lasted long cause she always seemed to catch them stealing stuff. That's as close as I think most Irish people get to maids..

Fluorescence

thundercunt wrote: »

The odd time when my mam was lazy she'd get in a cleaner once a week, but they never lasted long cause she always seemed to catch them stealing stuff. That's as close as I think most Irish people get to maids..

What a username :pac:. Off topic I know, but that's just amazing....

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

thundercunt wrote: »

The odd time when my mam was lazy she'd get in a cleaner once a week, but they never lasted long cause she always seemed to catch them stealing stuff. That's as close as I think most Irish people get to maids..

When my grandmother was sick with chemotherapy the hospice used to send around someone to provide home help a couple of days a week and she'd get up early those days to have the house decent for her before she arrived.

Johnny Favourite

Yes I grew up with one of all the above. She carried out all the domestic tasks while my parents worked.

Her name was Anne, never called Nanny and certainly never called Maid. Lovely woman, really lovely lady. Brought me up from the age of 2 to 14. I loved her dearly.

She died when I was 18 and we were her only family really. she had brought us all up. All four children.

My parents treated her very well and she enjoyed working for them.

Silver spoon?? Whatever... It was just my childhood and I don't think my parents should feel guilty for being professionally driven.

Scarinae

miss no stars wrote: »

I think that's fairly common of anywhere that's ex-colonial territory. I lived in Malaysia briefly (from age 4-5) and we had an "Ama", who was essentially a nanny (looked after and cooked for kids) as well as cleaned the place. Wasn't uncommon really.

My boyfriend was the same, he grew up with an 'ayah' (nanny) as well as a cook, housemaids and gardeners.

Buceph

Kadence Weak Vacancy wrote: »

When my grandmother was sick with chemotherapy the hospice used to send around someone to provide home help a couple of days a week and she'd get up early those days to have the house decent for her before she arrived.

Yeah, before my grandmother died she used have home-help from the government where they'd come in and get her up in the morning, and someone to make her breakfast, lunch and dinner.

mikemac

We had pixies in our house

Come home from college on Friday evening and throw a sportsbag of filthy clothes in the utility room

Leave Sunday night and they would be washed, dried, ironed and folded.

There were pixies living in our house I tell you, only explanation

Gordon Gecko

Well yes obviously at both the town house and summer home there were servants (like any normal Irish houlsehold). At school, once we reached 6th form, we were assigned a younger student to "fag" for us which I found particularly helpful. However as you can imagine my entry into university wasn't as smooth, given that the practice doesn't seem to be in place there and "fagging" seems to have all sorts of vulgar connotations. Needless to say I have broken many monocles since going up to Trinity....

mikemac

I remember reading some Roald Dahl novel, think it was called Boy. His early life time in public school, what we'd call boarding school I suppose

Senior students selected a new student as their "fag"

With outside toilets one task was go sit and warm the toilet seat which would be freezing in winter. The fag would do this so it would be somewhat warm for the senior student. They had to do all sorts of tasks

Very strange but you know, zero gay connectations at all
It was more of a master servant relationship. The Brits would know a lot about that. And reading the posts of people living as ex pats and colonies or former colonies, seems to have been the same

Dangerous Man

No - no maid or governess. I did have two assholes for parents though.

Is Cuma Liom

You made me laugh

Is Cuma Liom

Yes.

chicken fingers

No, but my children will.

Raze_them_all

One my friends is from Malaowi and had servents and the whole job, she's a little weird but she's grand.

Me?? No we were poor till about 94.

Gloomtastic!

My Mum and Dad both worked so we had a child minder called Mary. She was great.
My big brother called her 'servant' one day and she knocked seven shades of sh1t out of him with the wooden spoon. When my Mum got home she also gave him a right going over with the wooden spoon!
She left when she got pregnant. I still remember the shock and asking 'But how, she's not married?'.
She came to my wedding.