On the American and the British dramas, which I see very often, they hire a nanny for their kids. I can’t know what these hired nannies exactly do to the kids by dramas. Don’t know how familiar the parents and the nanny are each other, or these nannies should have any certificate, and more than anything, are kids really OK leaving alone ( not alone exactly but ) at night when parents go to a dinner party? Is it a real thing? What kind of people hire a nanny? Do nannies really exist??
Hey Naoko-san, Long time.
Yes, they (nannies) are around but not in high numbers. Of all the people I know, only a few of them have had nannies. Certainly less than 5% of families and maybe less than 1%. At least in my circles.
Will
Oh, I also wanted to say that it is good to see you are writing more again
Hi Will,
I’m glad to hear from you and thank you for keeping reading my posts!
About nannies, less than 1% is lower than I expected. In movies or dramas, it looks so common to hire them.
You have a tendency to believe drama’s story as real when you see a foreign ones, don’t you?
So, can I think that an American or a British working couple do almost as same as a Japanese one? I mean one of a couple opt being a part time worker? or get their kids to go to some kind of club activities after school?
Naoko, Yes that sounds pretty much the same to me.
My wife is from Indonesia. Having nannies there is much more common.
Thanks, Will. One of mysteries about foreign dramas has been settled!! haha
I don’t know anyone who has a nanny, if couples what to spend a night out they usually take their children to their grandparents’ house or have a sister or sister-in-law watch the kids for the evening. Good to see you back blogging — I missed you.
Hi AZ!!
I miss you too very much! Thank you for coming back again!
About a nanny, I think I’m not the only Japanese who believes American couples leave their kids at home at night with a nanny and go to dinner alone!
I live near my old house, which I used to live at before marriage, so, when neither of my husband nor me could look my kids, my mother come to my house and take care of them. I can’t say thank you enough to my mother about that.
お久し振りでございます。お元気でしたか？
夜ちょこっと外出する程度なら、多分知り合いとか近所のティーンエイジャーなんかにベビーシットしてもらうことが多いのではないでせうか？nannyではなくbabysittterの利用はごく一般的だと思いますよ。
aiさん こんばんは。お久しぶり♪
身内以外の人に子守をお願いする、てまだまだ抵抗がありますよね。日本人には。もしかして、私くらいの世代までなのかな？日本でも若いお母さんたちはお互いに子守しあって、夜外出したりするんだろうか？
私なんかは、ちょっと罪悪感感じながら遊んでも楽しめないから、そうまでして遊びたいとも思わなかったけれど、もしかしたら、それでも子供のこと一時忘れてはねを伸ばすのも必要だったのかな？て思います。欧米ではリフレッシュすることの必要性をお互い認め合ってるんでしょうね。
Hi Naoko
Long time no visit ^_^ I do apologise for my lack of visits and updates. Been such a hectic time for me which I will tell on my blog one of these days. Just dropping by to wish you a Happy Mother’s Day
Nanny or Amah (as we call it in Malay) are very common here ^_^ Some people thought I might hire one now that I have Isabella but I don’t as I want to take care of her full time.
You never mind. I’ve neither posted my blog nor visited any site lately.
So kind to drop by my blog while you are in such a hectic time.
It was so hard to take care of a baby all by myself, but I think now I’m very proud of myself, and that hectic time brings me the power face to my kids as much older now.
You are a great mom, Tima!
Nannies are common for the older generation of children (when I was a child 25 years ago ;P) in Singapore. They helped working parents look after children, like a day-care centre?
Hi meds,
They come to your home? or parents take their kids to a center?
i’m glad to have a comment from Singapore, by the way!!
I think that nannies are uncommon, except in certain places where there are high social differences. By that I mean very rich and very poor. A normal working couple couldn’t afford a nanny, although nannies have lower salaries than other jobs it is still expensive.
Also, nanny to me means a live-in full-time child care worker. I think this is common in the upper class houses of New York or Los Angeles.
Babysitters are very common, however. I saved a lot of money babysitting in high school. Babysitters are different than nannies that they are mostly used occasionally, for a night out, whereas nannies are for care during work.
As for your question of working parents- most parents who work in North America work fulltime, although there are part-time jobs and job-sharing available. But fulltime means 37-44 hours a week, not 60 like in Japan. Also, part-timers can have more power in NA than in Japan, and can change between fulltime and parttime more often as necessary. Neither Canada nor the US subsidize part-time workers like the generous subsidies in Japan, so it is not as common.
I really miss having babysitters in Japan. It would be so nice to go out with my husband for our anniversary, but not possible if we don’t take the kids. My mother-in-law works and lives about an hour away. All of the Japanese women I work with have mothers close to them who do a lot of extra work for them and I am jealous!
I also think it is quite a shock to most Japanese parents when they have their first baby. Because Japanese family sizes are small and so few of them babysit, they aren’t as experienced as most kids who babysat for extra money in North America. I was very glad of babysitting experience when I had my kids. I wish it was more common in Japan for there to be teens who babysit.
Hi Perogyo
Thank you so much for your expranation. It helps a lot to understand the working situation of American working couples.
I think you’re right about Japanese kids barely have experience to babysit kids other than their own siblings. I’ve never known any kids who got money for babysitting.
I think the Japanese might feel uncomfortable to be paid for babysitting, becuase people take it not as a job but a mare support. But I really want to say it aloud, IT IS A JOOOB!!
My kids are 11 and 8 now. So, I can have my time loger than before and I less feel stressed lately. But it looks that it’s universal to be faced with a dilemma while they are parenting little kids!