I shared this with some La Leche League friends and I thought I would post it here too.
When we moved to Chiang Mai Thailand, Courtney was 3 and Morgan was 6 months old. Before we got there I was adamant that I did not want a "baby maid". Our predecessor's domestic staff would become ours. They said that they had a maid, cook, gardener and a baby maid . I wrote and told them to please find another job for the baby maid as I did not want to have to fire her. Aleck and Julie were the housemaid and gardener- a married couple. They lived with us as did their daughter, Ann- who became Courtney's best friend. Upon seeing that we slept with our kids and breastfed, Julie told me "you raise your children like Thai people".. They did not know that "farangs" (foreigners) even liked their children. To this day I find this to be one of the greatest compliments I ever received on our parenting style. We left Chiang Mai in 1983, but have kept in touch with Aleck and Julie through the years. They met my son Austin when he was 2 years old. I was attending a WHO conference as a representative of LLLI, and, of course my 2 year old Austin went with me. That was in 1989. My son, Austin is now 35. He and his girlfriend are traveling and Chiang Mai is one of the places that are visiting . Yesterday, Austin and his girlfriend, Kristin, met with Aleck, Julie and Ann for lunch in Chiang Mai. This picture warns my heart 
When we moved to Chiang Mai Thailand, Courtney was 3 and Morgan was 6 months old. Before we got there I was adamant that I did not want a "baby maid". Our predecessor's domestic staff would become ours. They said that they had a maid, cook, gardener and a baby maid . I wrote and told them to please find another job for the baby maid as I did not want to have to fire her.
Aleck and Julie were the housemaid and gardener- a married couple. They lived with us as did their daughter, Ann- who became Courtney's best friend.
Upon seeing that we slept with our kids and breastfed, Julie told me "you raise your children like Thai people".. They did not know that "farangs" (foreigners) even liked their children. To this day I find this to be one of the greatest compliments I ever received on our parenting style.
We left Chiang Mai in 1983, but have kept in touch with Aleck and Julie through the years.
They met my son Austin when he was 2 years old. I was attending a WHO conference as a representative of LLLI, and, of course my 2 year old Austin went with me. That was in 1989.
My son, Austin is now 35. He and his girlfriend are traveling and Chiang Mai is one of the places that are visiting . Yesterday, Austin and his girlfriend, Kristin, met with Aleck, Julie and Ann for lunch in Chiang Mai.
This picture warns my heart
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