Did you ever deal with a 16 - 17 - 18 (or even 20) year old Khmer girl from a non-educated / country side family ?FatherTime wrote:And just because a girl is born in Europe and has a kid at 30 doesn't make her an expert mother, nurse, or nanny.Hanno wrote:Just because a girl can get knocked up at 14 doesn't make her an expert mother, nurse, or nanny.Alex wrote:Many girls get pregnant at an age much younger than 18 and have to take care of their baby. Why some on here think that a 18 y.o. girl cannot possibly be a suitable nanny is beyond me.
Listen, I get your point - you think that the average 18 year old Cambodia girl/woman will probably not have the best judgement when it comes to the care taking of a child. I see where you're coming from, as there are certain things in Cambodia that differ from the West. I won't let my child ride 4-deep on a moto through city traffic without a helmet on, for instance. But to simply dismiss her as being suitable to be a nanny because she's 1) Khmer, and 2) 18, comes across as pretty racist. Yes, she's young, but as other posters have said, she's the exact same age as the 17,500 au pairs that Europe sends to the U.S. every year.
And as any parent will tell you, none of us have any idea what we're doing on day 1. No one is born as an expert child caregiver, and nothing prepares you to be a parent. For a nanny, we don't feel that we need a highly educated individual well trained in everything. There job isn't to teach our kids, but to look after them when we're not around. The number one criteria is to treat the kid well in a loving atmosphere, and for this Khmer women of all ages exceed at. And, her being 18, she listens to us more than an older woman might, and is able to learn and adapt to our style.
Are you aware of the amount of superstition and outright wrong information Khmers from a non-educated family (or even educated) do have ?
Do you really think, an 18-year-old does listen to you, when her Khmer background tells her differently and you are not there ?
No, that is not racist, it's just reality. Those x million European kids coming to America to educate the cowboys, do have a far better life experience & knowledge then the younger Khmer generation.
Did you ever have a look at schoolbooks for Khmer (not English) education (even the better Khmer organized private schools) ?
Did you ever compare the end-term level for Khmer high school and EU "high school" ?
Did you notice, the Khmer high school end term level is a "one fits all" approach (vs, 3 to 4 different school levels in the EU) ?
Being "nice" to a kid, does not imply, wise choices are made, when dealing with the kid.
Do you really want your kid to be brought to the "hospital" around the corner, or for worse, a Khmer doctor, when something serious happens ?
It takes me a lot of effort to keep my in-laws from doing outright stupid things. Both the younger as well as the older generation. They either throw the hands in the air and "go to dubious hospital" or some general purpose country side medicine is being used. (Stuff that in the EU would be qualified as hazardous for health).