You don't want to leave your child alone at home. It's dangerous and illegal. However, sometimes it's unavoidable that parents are not able to take care of kids. In this case, you may need to hire a professional babysitter or nanny to help with the child care.
Toby provides various nanny services all around Hong Kong by full time and part time nanny and babysitter. We help you match with local trusted babysitters and nannies nearby, in case of temporary or urgent needs of childcare and daycare babysitting services.
When should I start looking for a nanny/babysitter?
Since it takes time to understand the family and household situation, and then perform screening to prepare the matching procedures, we recommend parents to contact us 1 month prior to the desired childcare service start date. Meanwhile, please allow time to communicate with the nanny and observe on the compatibility among the nanny and the kid.
How to select the most suited nannies and babysitter?
In order to save your time and for the best efficiency, Toby will pick the most suited nanny for you. When you have submitted the request online, we will gather the child's information and help you match with the best-suited nanny according to the following requirements: Experience, Age, Relevant Certifications, Current number of kids the nanny is taking care of, and Nanny's location.
1. You can learn the information of our recommended nanny as outlined in the sent information.
2. We will send the nanny's name and contact after the payment has been approved. You can contact the nanny to agree on the service details and scope, thus confirming the service time and date.
3. If you are not satisfied and want to change to another nanny after the probation period, we will follow-up the case and rearrange another nanny for you.
How to get along with the nanny and build a good relationship?
If you're leaving your kid in the nanny's hands, please prepare work items and instructions in order to help nannies familiarise themselves with the kid. The best way, of course, is to to treat your nanny as both a family member.
How can I find out whether the nanny qualifies or not?
1. Communication via phone: You can learn the nanny's professionalism and mannerism via the phone call, and thus estimating how well the nanny adapt to take care of your kid. You could evaluate the qualities of the nanny by his/her punctuality, patience, love of children, basic understanding of child development, etc.
2. Listening to the kid's voice: Even before your kid learns how to speak at infant stage, parents can pay attention to the kids' cries whether if the tone is different ie. turn husky. You would be able to differentiate apart from the kid's fear from being away from the parents or the incompatibility with the nanny.
3. Observe the psychological changes in your kid: We do not recommend parents to ask the nanny to bathe the kid because shower time is an intimate moment to bond with your child. Another reason is often times the nanny might not be aware of wounds of the child, avoiding showering the kid will prevent further injuries and discomfort brought by someone that the child is not familiar with. Besides, you should observe the kid's mood and behavioural changes after the hiring of the nanny. Beware of verbal and physical abuse scenarios.
4. Observe the interaction between the nanny and the child: The nanny should know how to cope with cranky or stubborn behaviours, make an initiative to play and spend time with the kid. Besides, you can pay attention to household changes, for example, whether any hazardous items (i.e. sharp) or daily supplies are misplaced.
5. Observe the nanny's personality and habits: To prevent the nanny spoiling the kid, you can observe whether the nanny has bad habits. For instance, does the nanny purchase snacks for the kid without permission? Does the nanny display any rude and loud mannerism that results in insomnia for the child?
Do nannies and babysitters do housework and home cleaning jobs?
It's fair to expect a nanny or babysitter to be responsible for basic clean-up related to taking care of children. Their have to ensure that your home is in the same condition as it was when they arrived. However, it is NOT their responsibility to do extra housework and home cleaning jobs. If you need home cleaning services, you may hire a part-time helper for the house chores and cleaning duties.
How much does a nanny cost per day in Hong Kong?
The nanny pay range is HKD$90-HKD$140 per hour in average. You may need to pay for a higher wage for a more experienced nanny (5+ babysitting experience). Actual nanny cost may adjust, depending on the 1) Job nature (post-natal service, 24-hour childcare, child tutor, pet babysitting, etc) ; 2) Service Period (peak season) ; 3) Experience of the Nanny.