My housekeeper is vey religious and it’s causing issues

[Claradiplomatique]

We live overseas btw for anyone wondering.

So I have a lovely housekeeper who is very…religious.

She tells me off when she sees the children’s toys with horns (dragons, dinosaurs, Yoga Goat) or if she sees any children’s books about magic or witches. My own tarot cards and crystals are tucked into a drawer.

There is somewhat of a language barrier as I think we are having a normal conversation and she says “Jesus is coming soon” out of the blue.

There is also an ongoing battle between the nanny (different religion) and the housekeeper as nanny believes in evil eye etc and has given charms to me and the housekeeper says they are “satan’s work.” Nanny took the children to a Halloween craft workshop and came back with witchy dolls and a pumpkin which housekeeper said we should burn.

They do however both agree that our rescue street cat is sent from God to protect us.

AIBU? Do I double down on the no religion talk or let her go?

🧿🪬

😂

Listen to your housekeeper. She’s right. Nanny doesn’t sound right.

Cats are easily bought. Food is enough to sway cats.
Maybe you could invent a new cat-centric religion for your household - the cat speaks to you at night and tells you it wishes both nanny and housekeeper would keep their religion out of your house.

Do you get bad vibes off either of them? If the cat likes both of them then I think they’re ok.

salt protects, sage cleanses. Obsidian protects, citrine cleanses.

OP you should know by now that the aspiring middle class on MN absolute despise anybody they perceive as better than them. Be grateful you haven't been told that you need to get a job and contribute tax until you are too old to work another day. Unless of course you die of boredom while being a SAHM and NOT WORKING.

To go back to your original question, housekeeper is superstitious and probably has had more things going wrong than right in her life. She's trying to ensure more bad things don't happen to her. Just nod along and say whatever happens will be in your house and her house is safe.

Open the door and when both entities pass through, shut the door, and clap for yourself 🙄

😂😂😂

Jesus! Praise the Almighty! Christ, I'm on one here 😃. I wish I had your 'problems '.
Religion never solves problems, it is the source of evil, tell them that Satan.

I'm aware, but religion is still much more present in public life, in America, than it is in the UK. People will talk about their faith openly and invoke God in front of others in ways that you rarely see here. Just look at the political landscape - how difficult, borderline impossible it is for someone to progress in politics without seeming religious. Britons wouldn't bat an eye at an atheist Prime Minister, but try to get elected President in America without a faith, and good luck to you. The difference is engrained into everyday life. It's considered quite normal to name drop God in schools, at sporting events, or in other settings Brits would consider firmly secular.

My point to OP is that she already comes from a culture where religion is more prominent. She probably already has some strategies she can apply - and if not, the majority British setting of Mumsnet may not be the best place to ask for advice. We just don't get this.

There's also a cultural difference coming into play with the whole housekeeper thing. In America, wealth is something to be admired and it's fine to show it off. Your average British person, meanwhile, is not going to react quite the same way to a post where a mum of two wonders how best to handle her servants.

OP hasn’t said that she’s American, AFAIAA.

How prominent religion is in day to day life is heavily dependent on where you are in the States. I live in the U.S, and religion isn’t any more present in my day to day life than it was in the UK.

Ah, Mumsnet. Simultaneously a site for out of touch rich people, and a site for posters to whine about out of touch rich people.

Mumsnet is an entirely appropriate place for OP to post. Mumsnet has a diverse user base from all walks of life, and there are plenty users, in the UK and outside of it, that have/ have had nannies, cleaners and/or other household staff. It has plenty of users familiar with living as an expat, and uses experienced in navigating conflicts. Indeed, amidst the snark, OP did receive genuine and good advice.

We certainly pay above what is required by law. Our housekeeper is like family.

People often forget that domestic employment is a whole job sector and if everyone just stopped employing people there would be a whole lot of (mostly women) in far worse positions. There are obviously historical injustices as a result of colonialism but simply just not employing people because someone in the UK feels it’s ‘wrong’ doesn’t solve that. As usual, things are not as easily solved as MN would like to believe.

Why have children if you are so very important and busy? Do you not think your kids would prefer to see their parents not the nanny and housekeeper? What a crap life for them. I would wager everything I have that they will not chose the same life for their future children.

Why do you assume that you can’t be present and have both. Have you been an expat before?

I can well believe this.

Sounds like neither of them have got enough to do!! If they got time for all this crap

Honestly some of these posters need to get out and see more of the world. Yes some people in the world are more religious than you. No it isn't going to harm your child if they talk about it in the house when they are present.

This is the funniest thing I’ve read on here for ages. Please keep them both on and come back regularly to tell us the latest. Love it

Hillarious! How do they think a cat has been sent to protect you? They both sound deranged.

I know of a complete idiot who made his daughter return the black cat she adopted, because he thought the cat was bad luck.

I’d say this was on an equal level of irrationality to that.

And some people have cooks, cleaners, nannies and drivers…

I wouldn't let one of those nut jobs anywhere near my home and children.

Ah, Mumsnet. Simultaneously a site for out of touch rich people, and a site for posters to whine about out of touch rich people.

It really isn’t. There are so many threads about poverty in the UK. Many many posters live in terrible poverty. The very wealthy posters are few and far between. Plus many of posts on MN are fabricated.

That was sarcasm.

Mumsnet isn’t the exclusive domain of any one socioeconomic group, and there are plenty of posters with higher than average household incomes on here. They are no less welcome or free to post about the issues in their lives than those in poverty are. It is an entirely appropriate site for the OP to use.

Love how someone with a nanny and a housekeeper is so far fetched for some people that it must be fabricated.

People are just pointing out that having domestic staff engaged in some kind of tiresome superstitious feud and the Second Coming and cats isn’t inevitable, like death or taxes. Even diplomats can manage.