Something About the Hired Help

It is no secret that my kids LOVE having a landscaper for a dad (for those of you who don't know, Jason runs a charitable landscaping organization).

Benjamin started playing grass-cutting while he was still in a diaper (there IS a diaper under that shirt!),

 

and one of his first words was "ass," meaning--of course--"grass."

One of his second or third words was "Eese," meaning--of course--Reece, one of Jason's first employees. But I'll get to that in a minute.

 

Janae also learned gardening at an early age, holding a plastic shovel before she even knew how to put on chapstick.



Understandably she preferred to tend the flowers, rather than cut the grass or ride around in a truck,



but she was also very aware of Jason's employees, most of whom have been teenage boys from our church (and their friends).

For example, one day--through our window--she saw a teenager (let's call him Nolan), who worked with Jason only a few days. Immediately Janae vowed that this was the man she would someday marry.

She was convinced that another one of Jason's employees was actually Prince Phillip.

Now it seems to be Alaina's turn. Like her siblings she enjoys digging in the dirt, raking up leaves, and pretending to cut the grass.

 

And like her siblings, she is OBSESSED with Jason's employees.

One employee in particular has caught her eye. We will call him Matt . . . or as Alaina likes to call him MATTTTTTTTT (she really emphasises the "T"!).

You might be saying "obsessed" is too strong a word to use when describing behavior demonstrated by a one year old, but let's see what you think after I've explained.

Most mornings Matt comes to our home to meet Jason for work. As soon as the two of them leave, Alaina stands at the front door saying, "Matttt!" Not Daddy, or even Bumpa (her new word for Grandpa)--who she has also been known to look for at the door--but Matt.

This would be bad enough, but throughout the rest of the day whenever Alaina passes the door she stops, looks at it, and says, "Matttt?"

Even this would be easy to overlook if Alaina didn't also say Matt whenever she got into the van, finished her lunch, or woke up from a nap.

She really has Matt on her little mind!

It started me thinking . . . if Jason continues this trend of hiring teenage boys, it is going to supply my daughters with a constantly renewable source of potential, possibly inappropriate, crushes, not only throughout toddlerhood, but throughout all their childhood and even teenage years.

At that point what will be stopping them from dating or even marrying the help?

Seeing my girls growing up with such a rugged outdoorsman for a father (picture taken at a U-Catch trout farm), I'm sure this is only to be expected.

 

But, it's convinced me: we've got to start thinking about who we hire :)



By the way, I just finished reading a novel called The Help, set in Jackson, Mississippi, during the civil rights movement. Because of this, I need to assure you that I use the term "hired help," in only the most light-hearted and amicable way :)