With regard to the article “When housemaids become substitute mothers” (May 14), the following is what happens in a typical day for a Saudi family: • Wife watches TV all night. • Husband is out with friends smoking Shisha • Morning: Husband wakes up late, on the way to work grabs a sandwich with a soft drink from the nearby shop. • Children go to school on their own. • Wife wakes up after Dhuhr, phones husband asking him to pick up lunch when returning from his work. • He does so. And so life goes on... Imran, Online response II. The notion a perfect Saudi mother only exists in the imagination. The only thing that many Saudi mothers care about is themselves, notwithstanding their responsibility for nurturing, rearing and supporting the development and upbringing of their children. These responsibilities are often left to housemaids who are practically clueless about bringing up kids. You see lots of kids clinging to their maids in school rather than their mothers. Manong, Online response III. Throughout the article, the maximum blame seems to be placed on the housemaid and only at the end is the mother blamed as well. The point is that housemaids should never be hired to raise children. Umair, Online response
