Loving & extremely patient helper needed per april 2011

M

Molie

Banned
Hi everyone!

We will be moving to HK from The Netherlands somewhere in March 2011 and will be in desperate need of a wonderful helper for our family as soon as we arrive.

We are not quite sure where we will be living yet, probably either Kowloon Tong, Happy Valley or Repulse Bay. We have two young children, 19 months and almost 4 now.

Our elder child has special needs as he has autism and is developmentally delayed. Therefore it is very important to us that our helper is exceptionally loving and patient for little children. Age is unimportant but she must be very experienced in childcare, speak good English and Mandarin, and preferably cook Chinese.

If you happen te know of anyone who fits the profile please pm me, I would greatly appreciate it. Any reputable agencies you know of would be great also.

Thank you so much!
 
Hi Molie

Just a thought that you may well need to adjust your expectations with respect to the language skills - there are lots of fantastic and caring helpers here and I'm sure you'll find someone perfect for your family but they are unlikely to speak Mandarin and English.

I think it will be much more realistic to look for the right personality and background to help with your son and one language that you can communicate in and other than that not worry about the language or cooking side.

Best of luck with your search.
 
Thanks for you input JVN! You definitely have a good point there. We have no idea how hard it is to find the Mandarin/English speaking combo in HK, I suppose most helpers speak English then and some Cantonese? My husband is
half-Chinese and Mandarin speaking, hence the preference for the Chinese cooking and language skills. :smile:

Like you state though, the most important thing is that the helper has the patience and stamina to take care of a young "special needs" child. Then good command of English will suffice.
 
The concern about your expectations comes from the fact that most helpers are not from Hong Kong or China. Most helpers are from the Philippines or Indonesia. Filipino helpers tend to just speak English (and Tagalog) and Indonesians sometimes speak Cantonese and English (and Bahasa).

I would separate your expectations:
1. depending on your needs for your child with autism, you may consider a full-time helper just for him. A friend of mine has this arrangement (her son is non-verbal and has other developmental delays). However, another friend with a much higher functioning child doesn't (her child goes to a mainstream school and they have one helper for the whole family and the mum doesn't work).

2. a helper - cooking/cleaning/childcare

3. a mandarin tutor - even just a student to come and play with your child in mandarin for a couple of hours a week.

I think you need to be more realistic in what you expect of one person. Will you be working? Will your husband? You can't expect an employee to do everything a mum (or dad) does !
 
jane01 said:
The concern about your expectations comes from the fact that most helpers are not from Hong Kong or China. Most helpers are from the Philippines or Indonesia. Filipino helpers tend to just speak English (and Tagalog) and Indonesians sometimes speak Cantonese and English (and Bahasa).

I would separate your expectations:
1. depending on your needs for your child with autism, you may consider a full-time helper just for him. A friend of mine has this arrangement (her son is non-verbal and has other developmental delays). However, another friend with a much higher functioning child doesn't (her child goes to a mainstream school and they have one helper for the whole family and the mum doesn't work).

2. a helper - cooking/cleaning/childcare

3. a mandarin tutor - even just a student to come and play with your child in mandarin for a couple of hours a week.

I think you need to be more realistic in what you expect of one person. Will you be working? Will your husband? You can't expect an employee to do everything a mum (or dad) does !
Click to expand...

Thank you, we will take this into consideration! We are now thinking along the lines of one full-time live in helper and one part-time live out helper? Not sure if that would be overkill as my son will be in school five days a week and my daughter in playgroup two mornings a week. And I will not be working for the time being.

My son does not need a lot of extra care as such, his main issue right now is a serious speech delay and some adhd tendencies. That's why we want someone who can be really patient with him, the little guy gets frustrated sometimes because he isn't as verbal yet as he would like te be.

Anybody know of any reputable agencies, I only found two via the forum here.

Thanks again!
 
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