Hong Kong's Premier Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting Community

Having a baby can be a wonderful and joyful time but it can also bring many changes and pressures on a variety of relationships. For new parents in Hong Kong these pressures are often even more complicated.

Reading development begins at birth! Some adults think that learning to read does not start until children go to school. However, even babies can begin to acquire the skills essential to reading. Their experience with spoken language and with different reading materials all contribute to the development of these skills.

The first thing you need to establish is what kind of helper you are looking for. Would you prefer someone who has masses of experience caring for children, or do you want someone with little or no experience, but can be trained to do things to your own preferences? There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Some Mums feel that they can only have confidence in experienced helpers. The helper will be able to use her past experience in caring for every eventuality. However, this can sometimes feel threatening to the new Mum who may prefer things done in a different way but feel she must defer to the helpers wider experience. Sometimes, in these situations, the parents end up feeling resentful or undermined by the experienced helper, feeling that the child is not their own. On the other hand an inexperienced helper will require a lot of training. It is not always easy to include every possible scenario and so there are bound to be occasions when the helper has to make decisions about things which you have not discussed with them.