The International Schools Review Forum

My wife and I have two children under 3, and are interviewing for new jobs. Right now we have two full time nannies and a full time housekeeper. Are we crazy to leave this behind to move to a country where childcare is less available? I am wondering if anyone has made a move to a more first world type setting and regretted it. It is hard to gauge the importance of something like childcare until it is gone. Any words of wisdom?

Where are you?

It will be hard and expensive but people do it all the time. We had 3 under 4 in Canada and had to pay through the nose when my partner had to go back to work. If the opportunities are better wherever you are thinking about moving to then go for, just be prepared to give something else up.

We are in Antananarivo. It is cheap to hire a good nanny who speaks English and French. We've been here five years though and are looking for something bigger and more developed. Since we had our children while working here I have never been without a lot of child care.

Hello,
With out sounding too forward, ask yourself what exactly do you mean? Is it about money or your children's well being? From my understanding your children are quite young. Would they be able to tell you if something wasn't right?
Just my 2 cents but having child care workers whom you trust is priceless. I've heard too many frightening stories about child care over seas....what do you mean I can't put your 1 year old on the handle bars of my scooter? Why can't my aunt nurse your child? Drinking chicken blood is a good idea for toddlers....and so on. As I'm sure you are aware, cultural differences alone are abounding let alone hygiene standards, boy oh boy go I could on. When you are teaching, away for 8 hours a day, too much can happen. Now that said, I've heard/experienced positive stories as well.
We have 3 children under 5. All born while In our current location. We have had the same nanny all though I've been at home as well. We have been lucky with our nanny. We will not move until the children are all in a preschool/school setting.

Hi Autumn,

What I am talking about is moving to a country where maybe you don't have a nanny, and you have to do everything yourself. Drop the kids off at daycare, cook, clean, laundry etc. I was just wondering if anyone had left all that household help behind to move to a place in Europe or the USA where it is unaffordable, and then felt like it wasn't worth it.

But....turns out we just landed a new job in a place where we should still be able to afford at least one bi-lingual nanny.

Congratulations! Glad it worked out for you.

I don't know how long it will last, but my wife, daughter and I are surviving on only my salary in Europe. My wife teaches a few English lessons here and there, though. It is easy to get spoiled in the international teaching scene and forget that there is a world of teachers out there who are not living like they are upper management at some successful corporation. Enjoy it while you can, but sometimes the trade offs are not worth it. To be honest, and of course this is just my opinion, I do not want my children growing up with the idea that the 'help' takes care of our house.

Europe is worth it only if you have two solid incomes, that too at a top-tier school. Personally, I'd take SE asia on any given day for one single reason - savings. As someone said, the only person who should worry about your career and retirement is you.

Dredge,

taught in many countries where "help" was cheap. However, kids came to school with me and no 'help' was hired. Life is what you make it - some people want the help, other don't. We didn't, and got along fine.

My only point is that the original author sounds like one of the parents at the schools. It sounds comical. I am seriously not trying to start an argument, just reiterating that 'dropping the kids off at daycare, making dinner, going grocery shopping, doing laundry', etc. is how most people raise and have a family. There is nothing to fear about it. The author sounded so exasperated at the thought of having to take care of his family besides putting a roof over their heads. It makes for good satire... and then the line about being 'able to afford AT LEAST one bilingual nanny.' This post should be sent to the author of white people problems.

Dredge wrote:
> My only point is that the original author sounds like one of the parents at
> the schools. It sounds comical. I am seriously not trying to start an
> argument, just reiterating that 'dropping the kids off at daycare, making
> dinner, going grocery shopping, doing laundry', etc. is how most people
> raise and have a family. There is nothing to fear about it. The author
> sounded so exasperated at the thought of having to take care of his family
> besides putting a roof over their heads. It makes for good satire... and
> then the line about being 'able to afford AT LEAST one bilingual nanny.'
> This post should be sent to the author of white people problems.


You sound pretty jaded. I certainly don't want to raise my kids how "most people raise and have a family." Most people have no bank account, no medical care, and no financial security. The post was merely a discussion on the benefits of being able to hire quality care for your children and household help. So far we have been able to have our small children spend time doing varied activities with educated, multi-lingual people while we are at work. I certainly could not provide the same kind of care if I was teaching in a place like Washington DC or Paris. But.....the trade off is living in a developing country and not in a great city in Europe. So that is the reason for the discussion.

Let's not judge if someone wants to have good childcare for his/her children or assume that the OP is white. Why not just assume that he/she is trying to do the best for his/her family and desires to have good people around him/her to help care for their children?

Besides, one of the perks of teaching in many parts of the world is not having to do your own laundry and cleaning...which leaves more time to spend with your family.