The Help

A couple weeks ago I read the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I thought it was an amazing book and it was very hard for me to put it down to get housework and homework done! For me, it painted a realistic approach the way families functioned and how society ran your thoughts and actions. To this day there are still many "cliques" among grown women that are full of drama and dictate what you should and shouldn't do.

What really spoke to me was the relationship between The Help and the mothers in regards to raising the children. The mothers really gave up all child raising to the people that they judged and looked down upon! I felt like I was witnessing motherhood at it's laziness while reading.

I'm all for getting help in your home or a nanny but I felt like the moms in the book didn't want anything to do with their children. The babies/toddlers would be watched by The Help and then go off to school (to be watched by a teacher) when they were old enough. The mothers weren't active in their child's development! If the child was acting up and being difficult they were handed off to The Help.

After reading the book, the characters and the mother/Help relationship stuck with me. I keep thinking back to the relationship between my daycare provider and myself. Being any kind of mother (working or staying at home) is hard. When you leave your child in the care of someone else you need to have a good, open and honest relationship with one another.

Being a working mother, Connor is in daycare close to 45 hours a week. I am thankful we were able to find a provider that meshes well with how I want to raise Connor and enjoys seeing my child everyday. I felt like I needed to find a provider that was going to WANT to inspire my child. I didn't want someone who would plop him down in front of a TV all day long. I wanted someone I could respect and who respected me as well. When Connor throws a fit because he doesn't want to leave daycare's home I know she's doing something right!

Getting back to the book, The Help, I can't imagine mothers letting women that they don't respect raise their child! The women who were the Help were good women but their employers didn't respect them enough to even use the same toilet as them! The relationship was truly disjointed.

To me the book was an eye opener to watch how I'm talking to my child and what I am saying to my child. Children are sponges and absorb everything they see and hear. The book was also a reminder to make use of every single moment I have with him because I'm not there all week long.

I highly recommend reading The Help. Its a step back in time and a great inspirational story of stepping above what and how you should act.