Max the Dog

We have interviewed a very good nanny to look after our child when my wife returns to work.
She would work 8am-6pm, live out and we would sponsor her.
She is asking for Dhs 2,300 per month...Is this the going rate?

Norm_uk

If she is "very good", comes with references and you are 100% confident in her any price you are comfortable paying will be acceptable - you're entrusting her to look after your child so cutting costs might not be wise.

However the "going rate" is usually around the AED1500 mark for a live in person (depending on nationality of course) - this is not usually for a professional nanny though, more like a maid who also happens to look after the kids.

If I was in your position I'd insist she stays with the family during the week (you will want to go out some evenings) assuming you can offer her a room then also offer 1500 plus medical insurance (this isn't usually very expensive for local coverage and might save you having to pay if she falls ill). Then offer her a bonus twice a year which would basically be the 300-500 plus you save per month. The major concern with most maids and nannies here who are not live-in is they are unreliable and might do a runner or more usually just not bother to show up one morning with no good excuse leaving you in the lurch with child care. That happened to me when my son was small and it was a huge pain in the rear...once we got someone who lived in it wasn't an issue at all.

N.

Blue Cat

if she is a Nanny that is cheap, if however she is just a Maid and you are calling her a Nanny to make you feel better, then you are being ripped off

Madam Medusa

not if she doesn't live in, it's under the going rate i believe...

MM, xx

Max the Dog

Thanks for the advice.
She is a very well educated 55 year old indian lady, who has lived in Canada for many years and has returned to Dubai to live with her son.
She will not be cleaning, just looking after the boy while my wife is at work with occasional babysitting.
I have had many maids over the years here and this lady is in a different class completely.

Hello.Kitty

So she's not actually a qualified nanny (or even childminder in the UK sense) but just someone who looks after children?

As Norm said, pay whatever you think is an appropriate wage. Sure, you may be able to save a few hundred AED if you really pushed it, but you wouldn't exactly want her to hold a grudge, especially as you'll have no way of knowing what she actually does during the day.

Just make sure she has some kind of First Aid qualifications, or send her on a course... so many "nannies" and even nursery workers don't even have a basic knowledge of child first aid.

Blue Cat

fair enough, can she swim? and as Kitty says first Aid etc. You are leaving the most important person in your life with her. I hope it works out for you, I honestly do

Hello.Kitty

BC - out of context, that sounds like a most random question!

It's valid though (for the OP and anyone else considering) because many "nannies" can't swim and yet will happily take the children to pools (often with no lifeguard). If the "nannies" in my building are anything to go by, they stay fully-clothed and have a good chat on the sun-loungers while their charges play in the pool, occasionally casting an eye over them. God forbid that the children should run into difficulty.

Blue Cat

does sound a bit random but it has to be taken into consideration, people can say oh she won't be taking my child to the pool, possibly not, doesn't mean that the child won't take itself though!

Max the Dog

Our pool is only waist deep and has a dedicated lifeguard...The little man also attends regular baby swim lessons and is pretty competent swimming under and above water.

Madam Medusa

the child could therefore take itself if it was with it's parents...the drownings reported here were all when the kids were with the parents...

MM, xx

Blue Cat

the reported ones, when I go to our pool I have pulled up kids out of the water a few times while the maids were sitting on their arses

MataHari

great thing about our maid is that she doesn't know how to use the computer which leaves her plenty of time to look after my kids...
although I seem to remember that there was a poster on here that had one that did look at porn all day long...

Bahtatboy

Is it true that a man living alone can't sponsor a live-in maid?

Hello.Kitty

yeah, wasn't there that one where the dad was plugged into his iPod sunning himself on a sunlounger and didn't notice or hear his child drowning?

Tragic, but gosh, that's ignoring the first and second rules of Parenting - have eyes in the back of your head, and even if you can't see them for a moment, make sure you can always hear them.