I am a Filipina married to a Taiwanese. We are living here in Hukou County. My husband and me are both working. My work schedule is 3-day-work and 3-day-off. My husband works from Monday to Friday. I am now pregnant and soon will have a baby. I worry about who will take good care of our baby while we are both at work. My husband’s family are all in Tainan and nobody can help us here in Hukou.
We are having two choices:
First, is to send our baby to the Philippines from 1 year old until she became three years old, maybe that time it would be easier for her to bring to a school or somebody who will look after her. But I worry about the papers and I don’t know if the baby can stay that long in the Philippines, because I think she will be a foreigner there and can stay only for a short period of time. Anybody knows about the legality of this matter?
Second, because I read some of the columns about parenting here in Taiwan, maybe it is possible to get a part time nanny near here in Hukou, but I don’t know where. Or maybe somebody can give us a better advice? Of course we want our baby to grow up with us.
Thank you very much in advance! I am really confused on what to do if that time comes… Of course we need to be prepared for that.
I am a Filipina married to a Taiwanese. We are living here in Hukou County. My husband and me are both working. My work schedule is 3-day-work and 3-day-off. My husband works from Monday to Friday. I am now pregnant and soon will have a baby. I worry about who will take good care of our baby while we are both at work. My husband’s family are all in Tainan and nobody can help us here in Hukou.
We are having two choices:
First, is to send our baby to the Philippines from 1 year old until she became three years old, maybe that time it would be easier for her to bring to a school or somebody who will look after her. But I worry about the papers and I don’t know if the baby can stay that long in the Philippines, because I think she will be a foreigner there and can stay only for a short period of time. Anybody knows about the legality of this matter?
Second, because I read some of the columns about parenting here in Taiwan, maybe it is possible to get a part time nanny near here in Hukou, but I don’t know where. Or maybe somebody can give us a better advice? Of course we want our baby to grow up with us.
Thank you very much in advance! I am really confused on what to do if that time comes… Of course we need to be prepared for that.[/quote]
Why not consider quitting you job and taking care of your baby, along with other children who’s parents pay you to look after them? I’m saying, get paid to babysit other children so that you can stay with your own child. It might be worth a try at least, right?
I’m sorry you seem to be in such a strange and difficult situation.
Forget about choice # 1. Sending a 1-year old baby to another country and culture should not even be an option IMVHO. Why have a child if the little thing will land up with a relative in another country? How often will you see the child. You will become a stranger to your own child. Think about your child, not about you or your husband. Sacrifice is the name of the game, I’m afraid.
I agree with housecat. Quit your job and take care of your baby yourself.
OR
Hire a live-in babysitter.
Whatever you do, don’t send your little girl/boy away.
PS: Oh, I apologize if it sounds like I’m criticizing you.
thanks, it’s ok, you don’t really sound like a critic to me. we are also considering to hire a baby-sitter. or even justa part time one. does anyone knows where can we get somewhere in hukou? thanks…
i cannot quit my job, now we are only renting an apartment. my husband’s salary cannot support all our expenses. we don’t even have our own house yet. and of course we need to prepare and save for our child’s future.
thanks for you concern, do you have any other good advice? =)
Are there other people in your workplace with children? If everyone works a split shift pattern like yours then it should be possible to get a group together to take care of each others children? IF you start asking around you may find this already exists.
i cannot quit my job, now we are only renting an apartment. my husband’s salary cannot support all our expenses. we don’t even have our own house yet. and of course we need to prepare and save for our child’s future.
thanks for you concern, do you have any other good advice? =)[/quote]
No, but how can you afford a sitter if you can’t afford to quit your job? Have you done the math? I don’t know what you earn, but I think you could earn at least as much by taking care of three or four other children. You can’t be the only person in your area with your same problem, and you could even promise to tend the children in English, so that the kids get good care and early language instruction for one price. I think you should think this through more. You don’t have to own the home your child lives in, but you do need to live in the same house with your child!
we found our kids nanny by looking at posters on the community center notice board. If you see other people in your neighborhood pushing kids around try asking them or if your Chinese isn’t good enough get your husband to do it.
We pay about 17k a month, but thats in Taipei. It maybe cheaper elsewhere.
I don’t want to be negative, but I have heard about the difficulties of SE Asian women married to Taiwanese- so how are things between yourself and your husband, does he treat you well and how are his family towards you ?
If you have any doubts at all I would advise you to fly back to the Philippines and give birth there. You can fly before 36 weeks with a doctor’s certificate. I am sure your family there would be happy to look after your baby. And you will never have to worry about the potential problems that can occur if things go bad with your husband and him and his family take the child from you.
If things are fine with your husband, however, and you see no chance of that changing, then just do the maths when it comes to deciding childcare options. What is going to cost you more, the loss of income from giving up your job to look after the baby, or the cost of hiring a live in nanny ? I am sure that you can find low cost and reliable childcare for your baby in the Pinay network- even if it’s an illegal worker (i.e. someone whose work contract has expired and is staying on in Taiwan and nannying illegally). You should be able to find someone who is prepared to move to your small town and be a live in nanny for you.
Anyway, good luck to you and I wish you and your baby the best of health and happiness !
I am a Filipina married to a Taiwanese. We are living here in Hukou County. My husband and me are both working. My work schedule is 3-day-work and 3-day-off. My husband works from Monday to Friday. I am now pregnant and soon will have a baby. I worry about who will take good care of our baby while we are both at work. My husband’s family are all in Tainan and nobody can help us here in Hukou.
We are having two choices:
First, is to send our baby to the Philippines from 1 year old until she became three years old, maybe that time it would be easier for her to bring to a school or somebody who will look after her. But I worry about the papers and I don’t know if the baby can stay that long in the Philippines, because I think she will be a foreigner there and can stay only for a short period of time. Anybody knows about the legality of this matter?[/quote]
Your baby will have an ROC passport, but will be a balikbayan through you. Therefore, the baby can stay in the Philippines for up to 1 year only without having to leave the country. After 1 year, the baby would have to leave the country, even if for just a day, and then return for a second 1-year stay (similar to a visa run, but without needing to get a visa). However, MECO should be able to issue your baby a Filipino passport after the ROC passport has been issued.
Just contact MECO for details and how long it will take to issue the passport.
Manila Economic & Cultural Center
MECO Taipei Tourism Center
4/F Metro Bank Plaza
107 Chung Hsiao E. Road, Section 4
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel: 886 (2) 2741-5994
Fax: 886 (2) 2773-5724
strawberry,
Have you talked to your in laws about your concerns? Most Taiwanese in laws would be more than willing to help out, they may even gladly move to Hukou to babysit.
In any case , you may want to search the web for the nanny association in your locality (sorry, couldn’t be of more help cos I have no idea where Hukou is.)
sorry if i confused some people about my location, we’re actually in Hukou, hsinchu county, Taiwan, very near in Hsinfong train station. and the baby is not yet born, my due date is on last week of june. thanks to all who replied! =)
now we don’t have the plan of sending my child in the Philippines anymore. we decided to keep the baby here in taiwan. so i was thinking where to contact a babysitter or a nanny, near our place. i hope somebody can help. thanks in advance!
[quote=“strawberry”]sorry if i confused some people about my location, we’re actually in Hukou, Hsinchu county, Taiwan, very near in Hsinfong train station. and the baby is not yet born, my due date is on last week of june. thanks to all who replied! =)
now we don’t have the plan of sending my child in the Philippines anymore. we decided to keep the baby here in Taiwan. so I was thinking where to contact a babysitter or a nanny, near our place. I hope somebody can help. thanks in advance![/quote]
Sorry, Strawberry, I could have sworn the date on the OP was more than a year ago, but maybe it was some funny glitch in my own brain!
yeah, we are a dense lot, aren’t we? You know what, I used to think FengShan is up on a mountain like Alishan until very recently.
strawberry, you are too nice, please don’t apologize for my ignorance.
