I am not washing her panties

Dear Pastor,

I have been reading your column. I have two children but their fathers would not settle down with me. He is up and down with other women. Some of my friends blame me. They said when we met, and he got me pregnant the first time, I should have tied him to me. But I don't believe in those things. Things got rough on us, so a friend got me a job in Kingston. My boyfriend didn't want me to go, but my mother agreed to keep the children for a while.

Every time I get paid, I try to buy my children's father something out of it. The work is not very hard. The couple only have two children, one boy and one girl. The girl is very lazy. She is eight years old. She does nothing for herself. I don't mind straightening up her bed, but I told her mother that she should be doing that herself. Her mother said that she is hurrying to get to school.

I am planning to tell her that I am leaving because she has taught this girl to drop her panties in the basket and she expects me to wash them. I told the woman that her daughter is old enough to wash her underwear, and she is not pleased about that. I did not wash them. She told her husband that I am planning to leave, but she did not tell him why.

Do you think I am wrong in refusing to wash the girl's panties? Remember now, the girl is not ill and the mother should wash them for her if she wants to do that. But a helper shouldn't be asked to wash them. How do you see it?

N.K.

Dear N.K.,

I hope that your employer would not insist that you should wash her daughter's panties. You are a good worker and she should not make an issue over your refusal to wash her daughter's undies. Perhaps the mother has never taught her that that is something she should learn to do for herself. I hope you will not lose your job over that matter.

Pastor