Leaving HK for the kids...

[TheBrit]

Is your profession being a millionaire? :P I never met anyone who has had a nanny back home. Everybody grew up in a two working parent household without their grandparents around. My mom would pick us up from day school after she finished work and once we were old enough we would ride our bikes back home and eat microwave lunches.

I also never met a single family in the UK with a helper, nanny, carer or anything of the sort. It might be different now, but I doubt it. None of my UK relatives or friends has a maid. Really just is not the done thing. I guess there are some au pair's in London, but this is a tiny percentage of familes.

Both my parents worked - we used to go round friends houses after school, take it in turns - different houses, different days - whatever could be worked out. One set of grandparents was 250 miles away, the other was dead.

[merchantms]

Families do all over the world. Having maids is the exception, not the norm.

So when school ends at 2 and work ends at 6, where are the kids?

Paid childcare or family help.

[merchantms]

It’s obvious many of you not know professional couples with children under 10 currently living in London, NY, etc.

The only way to make it work without paying for care or having family help is for one person to leave work.

[hullexile]

It’s obvious many of you not know professional couples with children under 10 currently living in London, NY, etc.

The only way to make it work without paying for care or having family help is for one person to leave work.

True I do not know these people in London. I do know many many couples in the UK though. None have a helper. Very few could afford a helper at UK rates.

[merchantms]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-...lemma/12105568

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-54209758

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...onavirus-risks

According to Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, interim health director for Buncombe County, 40% of children in the United States are watched by grandparents when they’re not in school or child care centers.

Who’s out of touch...the parents who know how hellish childcare is in Europe/N America or the ones who say you can manage without family help or paid care.

[hullexile]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-...lemma/12105568

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-54209758

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...onavirus-risks



Who’s out of touch...the parents who know how hellish childcare is in Europe/N America or the ones who say you can manage without family help or paid care.

You are completely missing the point. The argument was that HKers didn't move abroad because of the lack of helpers. You are now including paid care. Our kids went to breakfast club for an hour and a quarter before school. But most people have work arounds using friends with kids, adjusting hours, kids looking after themselves for a while, etc.

[TheBrit]

So when school ends at 2 and work ends at 6, where are the kids?

Paid childcare or family help.

As I said in my post, neighbours houses, friends, latchkey children..... many options. I have many professional colleagues & friends living in London - dozens - nobody has a helper.

[Elegiaque]

I think there are often a lot of social pressures to have kids and it's just "what you do" in your mid-age. But I notice there are more and more people who aren't really interested in parenting, perhaps because there are indeed so many alternative opportunities for women nowadays.

Again, it comes off as kind of sad that people have chosen to have kids but come across as if they are more of a nuisance to planning daily life.

I don't deny having kids in Hong Kong, or any of these "world's most expensive cities", would be very tough, especially if you want the benefit of two incomes. But that's not the reality for the rest of the world...

I wish people would just be more open to considering alternatives to becoming biological parents. I think the 21st century needs a radical rethinking of what "parenting" means and alternative ways to fulfill those desires.

[TaD_LaLa]

I wish people would just be more open to considering alternatives to becoming biological parents. I think the 21st century needs a radical rethinking of what "parenting" means and alternative ways to fulfill those desires.

What scenarios did you have in mind?

[Sith]

Adopting adults