Yayas and the Baby Carriages

In short, they're the local version of nannies.

At Rustan's yesterday, during the Christmas rush, a yaya had provided me the impetus to blog about them. I had tried to put off writing a nasty comment about them and the baby carriages that they lug around like training wheels for the disabled. After the tiff yesterday, that was the last straw.

You may not like my comments, but who cares?

While my mom and I were queuing at the cashier (in the very narrow aisle of the toy department), a yaya who was pushing a large (and I mean large - the ones with a canopy and extra sidings for extra bottles and diapers and whatever baggages you wanted to fill in) baby carriage was choo-chooing like a train saying, "excuse me, excuse me, excuse me" to everyone who was on line. I was irked because we all had to move away just to make way for the baby carriage. WHICH WAS EMPTY EXCEPT FOR THE THINGS FOR A BABY!

Darn! Why couldn't these people fold the carriage so that it wouldn't take up space? There was no child in it anyway?

Of course I snapped at her and said - there's no baby there. Fold that carriage!

She snapped back and pointed at the baby - 100 meters away, large enough to kill a rhinoceros and being carried by the biological mother!

I snapped back and said - the baby is big enough to walk! That carriage should be folded.

The mother overheard the conversation and asked what happened. Of course, the yaya was raising at the top of her voice that I was snapping at her for pushing around that large baby carriage and that I was making comments about the baby (not being a baby anymore) could walk and blah blah blah...the mother of the child just looked away. She couldn't even look at me as I was staring at them. Only the yaya was glaringly mad.

My simple take on this is that the local yayas are overpaid and under worked. Many of them refuse to carry the child in the malls. Their backs and arms will hurt eventually and that they would have to lug around so much milk bottles and carry on packs for the child's diapers that they would become Mr. Philippines' entry to the next bodybuilding contest. Many (if not most) of them think they are experts on child care (when in reality they want to seem to be).

I see patients at my clinics with yayas whose personalities are delusional!

Each time I provide advise to mothers who ask about health issues, the haughty yaya will always butt in and say "oo nga maam - dapat yan ang ginagawa mo kasi yan din ang ginagawa ko nung huling alaga ko." - BIDA parati si yaya! Mayabang pero walang alam. Pakialamera pa! Akala niya anak niya noh! [But who can blame them? Sometimes parents forget that they have a child and that they should be hands on with their children. Unfortunately they forget this in the myriad of all the work and play of life that they relegate what they need to be doing to the yaya.]

Which leads to the second crutch. The baby carriages.

These are supposed to be for babies. They are not supposed to be used akin to grocery carts, where you store everything from the milk bottles to the shopping bags in the cart! Going to the mall or to public places cannot be all about YOU! Be considerate about your fellow human beings! Darn!

In the elevators at the hospital, I am tempted to lash out at these parents who tug along these large (I mean really large) baby carriages and the yaya(s) with them when they bring their kids for a check-up. It's like they're going to war! Gosh, they bring the whole kitchen with them! I pity the disabled who ride with us on the elevator. These yayas rush into the elevators like kamikaze pilots so that they can steer the baby carriages in. AND THE BABY CARRIAGES DO NOT HAVE A BABY. The other yaya is holding the baby (or carrying the child), and the mom is lugging her Louis Vuitton bag (that's bigger than the baby). Imagine that - talk about being considerate! Never mind the disabled as long as the baby and their peripheral belongings are on the elevator! Dang!!!! Wala naman tao yung carriage eh di ilupi naman (the baby carriage has no baby - fold it)!

There ought to be a law on these baby carriages or strollers as the oldies would call it.

You'll notice that when we go to the malls, no matter how small your bag is the guards will insist on doing a pat down or an inspection! But the baby strollers or carriages with all those bottles, bags and other paraphernalia go through the beeping doors without even being checked thoroughly! Talk about security! Talaga naman utak kulugo ang Pinoy security.

But the Pinoy will never be proactive and many of them are inconsiderate. We just need to wait for a tragedy or disaster to occur before we put things into perspective. [Read - an explosion in the mall occurs because of a baby carriage containing bomb.] In the meantime, we hire these mediocre yayas because we're too busy caring for ourselves.

For parents (or relatives) who follow my blog, the following pictures show the kind of baby strollers or carriages that are over- the-hill and in-your-face and should be avoided in public places. OA masyado ang mga yan! They are fluffed and packed with parasols and covers because they're for countries that have winter! Walang winter sa Pilipinas. Get real! Tapos mag rereklamo kayo may diaper rash ang mga anak ninyo! Aba mainit kaya yan!































































The ideal baby stroller should look like this: