Mummy day care / nanny

L

louiseireland

Registered User
I am a British Mum of a 4 month old girl and facing the dilemma of either returning to work (as an English kindergarten teacher) and leaving my daughter with a helper or ideally staying at home to look after her myself.

I know there is a shortage of nurseries and day cares in Hong Kong (as I have found out myself) and would like to offer my services in looking after another child or two along with my daughter, allowing me to not have to leave her with a helper all day and allowing your child the benefits, socially and educationally, of being cared for by a competent and experienced fellow Mummy.

If you are interested or would like to talk about this more, please drop me an email or give me a call and we can discuss how we could make this work.

Are there any Mums out there who have done anything similar or would like to get involved?

Thanks
Louise 66947998
 
Hi Louise,
I totally understand your dilemma...since I am in the same situation! The thought of leaving my girls with a domestic helper is dreadful...so, yes, I would love to go back to work, also as a teacher...but I can't leave my kids with just any one...
Where are you located? Any ideas on how we could set something up to make it work? I am up for talking and brainstorming!

Sandra
54125186
 
why is it dreadful?

out of 3 FDHs we've had, 2 were fantastic with our kids! our current one, plays games, cooks, bakes, watches tv, reads stories to, sings songs with, does puzzles with (etc) my kids. they adore her!

a good helper shouldn't be/isn't "just anyone"....
 
I don't usually post but felt I had to respond to this thread. I moved to HK last year with a 5 month old and returned to full time work in finance when my baby was 10 months old. Our helper is absolutely phenomenal - she has brought up 5 babies so I would argue she's more qualified than me :-) (and I'm also a primary school teacher in a former life but that's very different to baby care!). She has taught both me and my son a huge amount. Obviously all helpers are individuals and not all will be as fabulous as mine or Cara's with young children so you just need to choose well - we also supplement with various baby classes and play dates. I will be devastated when I return to the UK in a few years and have to leave her behind! Your helper shouldn't be 'just anyone' - we chose purely for childcare rather than for cooking or cleaning prowess and our helper knows that my son is the number 1 priority. Good luck with whatever childcare solution you adopt - it is hard in HK.
 
I have 3 kids and I always return to work dreadfully, but glad that I did. While I had excellent helpers at home, I still don't feel comfortable for my kids to stay home with them. Thus, I always pack them with school and playdates so it won't be the helpers' responsibility to teach and play with the kids. As much as I'm grateful that I have awesome helpers, I still think it's the right decision not to rely on them to play the role of being a mom while I'm at the office.
 
I know how you feel! I was working at a nursery in London and stopped working after my son was born. I was very lucky to be able to look after my son myself till he was 3 (well, kinda).

I worked as a nanny for older children n brought my son along for about 6 months and very luckily my boss in London offered me a job, with the option of bring my son in when he turned 2. We moved to HK about 6 months ago and my daughter is now 2 months old. My son is at a kindy in the mornings and I'm also debating whether to go back to work. It's kinda ironic that I'm leaving my daughter to be cared by someone else and I go off to look after someone else's children.......
 
Can anyone comment on the availability of trained nannies in HK? It seems to me that it may be very devalued as a profession amongst locals as they view childcare as the providence of domestic helpers. Given that there is obviously a very good supply of excellent DHs at very low rates, has this made the job obselete? Do people have them, and what is the expected salary? What about nannies from other countries?
 
proper nannies draw a salary of $30,000+/month. not using them has nothing to do with them not being valued, it has to do with not being able to afford them.
 
I am a trained nanny/ maternity nurse and have been in HK for 19 years. We are probably about 100 qualified nannies in HK. The high salary does stop people from hiring us but it's a personal choice. You can't compare helpers and trained nannies. We are professional carers. The minimum salary is a minimum of 30000 $ a month.
 
Hi, I have a 4 month old baby and we would be relocating to HK after she turns 6 months old in Feb. i note that choosing a DH is probably the only way out for us with regards to baby care and that getting a good DH is very important. was wondering if someone could share with me how to get a reliable helper in Hong Kong, any specific avenues to go to or reliable agencies to approach? Thanks a mil!
 
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