Nanny or maid?

Interesting write up from "first time mama and papa blog"


Nanny
We all know that it will be great if our baby can be taken care either by ourselves, or someone who we can trust. Such as our parents and etc...

However at times, due to certain circumstances, we have no choice but to pass our baby to someone whom we don't know at all. So, if you are passing your baby to a nanny, here are some questions that you may want to ask before accepting the nanny.

You have to understand that some nannies are very picky, just like you as a parents. You may have your own sets of thinking and the nanny may think otherwise.


I think here are the top 10 questions to ask nanny:

Religion. Many nannies are Taoist. They will have figures at home or they will offer incense sticks and etc. in the morning. Can you accept that? If you can, do you allow your child to see them in action? If not, how?

Food. Have you started your child on solid food? If not, does the nanny agree with you? Many modern parents are into breast feeding or, feeding breast milk to their babies as long as possible. Some of us will wait for the baby to give us signal. Many nannies are under-informed in this area. Is she open minded enough to learn from you?
Weaning: When you start weaning your baby, what kind of food will the nanny prepare? Or once your baby has started on solid food, what kind of food will she prepare?

Vaccination: Have you vaccinated your baby? If not, does the nanny accept that? If she does, how is she going to ensure that your baby does not get infected by others? How about the nanny? Has vaccinated herself against some common diseases? Can you accept that? Also, after vaccination, what is she going to do to ensure your baby is well taken care of if your baby has fever? Some nannies prefer to give panadol first before the baby has fever. Either for prevention sake or, for convenient sake.

Breast feeding: If you fully breast feed baby, does the nanny is willing accept that? Especially if you are going to pass it to her before you break the routine? Some nanny recognize the toughness of taking care a fully breast feed baby.
Family: Who are the members who is going to help her to take care your baby? Her kids? Her hubby? What are the kids' age? If the kids are small and your baby has not get his or her vaccination, your baby will get sick easily. Any smoker in the house? Any elderly in the house? What is the state of health of the elderly?
Equipments: Does the nanny has the necessary equipments to sterilize your bottles? Or, what method do they use to clean your baby stuffs? Boiling water?
Education: Are you going to give the nanny the some dvds/vcds for your baby to watch? Is she or her willing to play the dvds/vcds according to your schedule?
Your family members: Does she allow your family members to visit your baby at her place? Some nannies do not like it. And some family members love to sit at the nanny's house to watch them.

Fees: While, if everything is agreed upon, here's another important question. If you found your nanny through agent, you have to ask the agent upfront. What's the agent fee? Before you get the agent to start searching for you. Let's say he found it, ask him what's the nanny fee? How about solid food? How much does she charge? Also, how much does she charge if you need her to take care of your baby during off duty hours? For example, weekends?

Maid (Indo or Fil)?
Do you need a maid?
When the little one arrives, sometimes it is good to have an extra helping hand. However, do you really need one? This is the advice from a friend of mine. Her name is Emily Quek and she wrote this for everybody in a forum. So all credits go to her.

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Fil or Indon - depends on your needs & preference. Then again, it's about generalisation only... does not necessarily mean 1 nationality better (or worse) than the other. Some pointers (bare in mind some are generalisations):

Indon:
1. Lower salary
2. More hardworking
3. Can take hardship
4. Keen learners (will pick up languages & learn new things)
5. Less likely to 'ask' for things or bargain
6. More willing to accept rules & regulations
7. Better cooks (cos Indon cooking methods more Asian than Fil)
8. Not as prideful & can accept reprimands
9. Not as alert or smart (keen to learn not = to fast learner)
10. Not as clean

Fil:
1. Higher salary
2. Will eat snake when they can (or if u prefer, work 'smart')
3. Not as able to take hardship (turn in early, wake up late, etc)
4. Think highly of themselves (hence, not as receptive to new things, may try to act smart)
5. Know their 'rights' & WILL ask for things or bargain
6. Tend to agree to rules & regulations on the surface, if they do not like it, may not follow lol then got lots to argue later on.
7. More used to using low fire to cook, so not as good a chef as Indons
8. Full of pride & may not take well to being told off (even if they are in the wrong!)
9. More alert & smart (sometimes too smart, so dare to argue, bargain, or DEMAND for things)
10. Supposedly cleaner.

These are just some generalisations. I'm sure there'll be people who can tell you that their Indon maid is very clean or their Fil maid cooks very well.

Then the diff between a brand new (raw) gal & an experienced one are:
1. BN mouldable, not 'infected' by bad habits (though need not mean they dun have any to start with).
2. BN must train from scratch (very tedious).
3. Exp ones can probably start work from day 1, just need to adjust to your preference... but some may be stubborn & stick to old ways too
4. Exp ones know what to expect, so may compare & bargain.
5. BN usually mean have to deal with a certain period of homesickness, esp Fil. Almost guranteed one. If they appear fine, something is definitely WRONG... hahaha..
6. Of course exp ones more expensive than BN ones

Agencies have different packages for girls of different nationalities, whether exp or BN & whether from home country or transfer.

From home country usually means they have existing loans which you probably have to pay up in advance for them (higher start up cost, but eventually deduct from their pay). Transfer should mean less or no more loan to shoulder, could mean just pay agent fee & bring girl home.

I think most important is to get a reliable & trustworthy agent. Bio data for girls are shared & passed around, so does not mean a pricey agency gets the best girls. More important to get a fair agent who understands your needs, so that they can find you the best match... & in times of need, they can counsel your maid for you.

But I always tell my friends (my agent tells me the same thing): think carefully whether you truely need a maid. If not, dun go through the hassle & trouble... if you do, you need to be aware of the possible pitfalls & know how to handle whatever might come out of it...