Honto!!

One night-- at Yahoo Messenger , Indonesia to Nepal

Aji : *ding*
Surya : how are you doing?
Aji : great, got posted at the HQ and Kenny is going back to work
Surya : what about the kids?
Aji : we have 2 baby sitters and a maid
Surya : hontoni !!
Aji :

Yup. Employing 3 helpers at home might be a surprise for most of people from all over the world. Even for Indonesians. Even for our parents who seem not to be able to imagine how much we have to spend in a month -- Well, we could say " only 40 kilos of rice (just imagine how much that will cost you in Japan) and many other things ( we do not want to mention and even if we do we are sure you do not wanna know)

Managing them is also another thing. Why? They are teenagers. You know what I mean. They are undergoing the period of getting a crush on someone or broken hearted. We just do not want anything bad happen to those green girls but they need some degrees of freedom to go out and have fun in their own definition.

Three of them have different personalities and come from different background. Thus, we have to find different approaches to tell them to do things. The baby sitter A, for example, is a very patient but does everything in slow motion. The baby sitter B has high initiatives but is inclined to ignore our main points. The maid is a very handy, responsive and has a vigorous physical features but in her speedy action she could break the water pipe of the water closet, the sliding glass cover of the cupboard, trash out the chicken stock I was going to use for soup. With their pluses and minuses, three of them could be good team players if we know how to deal with them.

We hold a regular meeting with them to solve any dispute and allow them some room to give suggestions or ask questions. What can we say? They are also team players and contribute a lot to our productivity. On the other hand, we also need their inputs as they are the ones who handle the day-to-day activities. We also have to be open for criticism.

Sometimes we also take them out or let them go out without us. It's usually a very good opportunity for them to talk things over and build a better team work. It does not have to be something fancy; only to get haircut together, eating out at the bakso stall, or just to go to Alfa to buy Indomie --their favorite instant noodles.

Hmm... we wonder what it would be like to deal with our three sons later on. Any tips for building a good team work for boys?