Preparing for life in taiwan - childcare question

Taiwan Parenting
1

dear all,

we are a german couple who will soon be moving from hk to tainan. we will both
work full-time at university. we just realised based on a post in the ‘work’ forum
that it won’t be possible for us to bring our great domestic helper from hk to taiwan.
we have a three year old daughter and will very likely send her into an all-day
kindergarten at university.

now our question: in hk, we have enjoyed considerable flexibiliby in our schedules,
since there was always someone to babysit in the evenings. how could we get
evenings off (for evening lectures, for sports or just for spending some couple
time together)? how is this problem solved in taiwan without grandparents or
helpers? where could we find such help in tainan?

the same question, of course, arises if we consider a second child - how is
this possible if both parents work full-time? any experiences?

many thanks to you all for your help!

2

Two words for you: Duct Tape

As long as you remember to keep air passages open, and don’t cut off critical circulation, you and the old lady should be free to party all night - no worries.

But seriously, as a father raising my own daughters here, I read your post and cringe. Taiwan is not the place to be casually entrusting one’s kids to part-time caregivers. We could never entrust them to such outside care on a repeated basis, school excepted. Perhaps there are cultural lessons that will take time for you to learn - pls don’t learn them at the expense of your child.

3

We could never entrust them to such outside care on a repeated basis, school excepted.

why is that? is it like in mainland china - child abductions and the like? does coming to taiwan
mean that only one parent can work such that you never have to rely on outside help? is
there really no one to trust?

Perhaps there are cultural lessons that will take time for you to learn - pls don’t learn them at the expense of your child.

which are these lessons? in reading and posting on this forum, we are trying to learn what this
move would mean to us. your comments make it sound like a bad idea!?

4

There are licensed caregivers you can hire. As you’ll be new, that’s possibly a good way to go. I’m sure there will be someone at the uni who can help you with that.
There are also plenty of folk who’ll look after your baby for a small fee, but as you don’t have a soical circle, that would be harder to find. I’m not sure exactly what the other poster is on about, but the lady who looks after our 10-month-old three days a week is an absolute honey and FAR better at parenting than either me or my wife. We pay her NT$500/day for about 8 hours each time. Very cheap.

5

Hi,

I run an online babycare store here in Taiwan. One of my best customers is a caregiver in Tainan. She runs a small operation from home. I am not sure if she will be able to offer what you are looking for, but if you want me to ask her about casual babysitting services in Tainan, I am happy to do that for you. (She is local and I don’t think she speaks English, but she might have some information.) Just send me a PM if you need assistance.

6

As I understand it you have the right to hire a full time care giver/nanny, depending on the conditions of your employment here. Most “expats” that are brought in for specific jobs here can hire live in full time nannies. Sounds like something like what you have in Hong Kong. I have a friend who transferred from Singapore , managed to get his Filipino care giver from Singapore into Taiwan. Suppose you’d just need to find the right agent in Taiwan to arrange it.

7

[quote=“clearlotusstem”]>We could never entrust them to such outside care on a repeated basis, school excepted.

why is that? is it like in mainland china - child abductions and the like? does coming to Taiwan
mean that only one parent can work such that you never have to rely on outside help? is
there really no one to trust?

Perhaps there are cultural lessons that will take time for you to learn - pls don’t learn them at the expense of your child.

which are these lessons? in reading and posting on this forum, we are trying to learn what this
move would mean to us. your comments make it sound like a bad idea!?[/quote]

Good Lord, man, this is not Central America! Nor China! You are safe here -except from scooters, but that’s another story.

No abductions, you are not that rich here.

What he meant with “cultural lessons” is just that people have a different way of doing things here. Children are sent to schools earlier in life so they can compete with others in the test-taking races.

As it has been said, there are government registered and monitored child “nannies”, who take care of small groups of children, in neighborhood areas. They receive training, and must go back to training every year, to keep an eye on them. So, as long as you choose a legal one, certified, it should be OK. Now, check with the neighbors, word of mouth and all that jazz.

Trusting someone new with your child is no easy feat, we know, but hopefully a reasonable solution can be found. In teh ultimate case, costs of living in Taiwan are way lower, and sacrifycing hours for family time -as per your plans- is doable, meaning more time with the kids and less nanny time.

Remember, kids grow so fast, they’ll be asking for the car keys before you know it.

8

Unless regulations have changed you can’t hire a foreign nanny at all for childcare despite what agents tell you. You certainly have the right to hire a local nanny.

9

thanks to you all for your helpful comments!

after searching around for some time we have one more question:
does taiwan allow au pairs in? are there restrictions to nationalities?
i haven’t found any conclusive website for this so wonder if any of
you have heard about this or first-hand experiences?

thanks again

10

I don’t think there any restrictions to nationalities anymore. I’ve met a couple of women who were able to bring nannies from their home country. One mother was an American executive here about 9 years ago who worked very hard to get the regulations changed. Unfortunately, she moved back to the US before she could even benefit from the new regulations.

Sorry that I can’t provide anymore information but maybe another member here can help.