Firm says all maids in UAE should get mandatory childcare training
A COMPANY that trains domestic workers is calling for the government to ensure that all maids and nannies in the UAE are qualified to look after children.
Tracy Fountain, the founder of Back to Basics, told 7DAYS that her company has been meeting with government officials to discuss such a scheme.
“A lack of safety legislation, lack of community awareness and interventions and a reliance on unskilled domestic staff who supervise children are the major factors contributing to child fatalities,” she said.
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Housemaids are often given more responsibility than they can handle, she said, adding: “Housemaids need to get compulsory training. We are meeting regularly with the child protection committees in Abu Dhabi to discuss community interventions and changing legislation to avoid tragedies involving children and housemaids.”
The proposal was welcomed by some residents, including Syrian expat Salem Khalid, who said: “Training for the maids is really a good idea. Our children stay most of the time with the maids. It is important that they get trained on how to take good care of them.”
A member of staff at a domestic help recruitment agency added: “Most of the maids being brought in here lack child safety skills, yet they are given tasks to take care of children.”
Comments
by gcme1
Wednesday, November 07 2012, 12:01PM
“@ComConM @teed_off_47mech do either of you actually have kids here in Dubai? and if so are you stay at home parents, or is your spouse earning a large salary to keep you and the kid/s in education, fed and with a roof over your head? Just to clarify...”
by ComConM
Tuesday, November 06 2012, 9:54PM
“Yeah we need more training for the maid to take of the kids and training for the houseboy to take care of the cooking so that i don't have to take any interest what-so-ever in the raising of my kids so that when I do have to look after them in the car, I wont know to strap them in, and if we're in the apartment I wont realise that they're climbing out the window.... ridiculous.”
by gcme1
Tuesday, November 06 2012, 9:18AM
“Training nannies is a very, very good idea. Who would want to leave their child with someone who may not know what to do in an emergency? I just wish there were more types of short courses available. I would love to see a professionally run course that could teach nannies things like potty training, baby food preparation, weaning and childcare basics and would be more than willing to pay for them. As a first time mum, I am not sure of how these things work and it would be great to have a childcare professional who could help me. While my husband and I would far prefer to be at home with our son, the reality is we cannot afford to live in Dubai and raise our son and pay for his education/emergency bills and have savings for him without both working. We have a nanny during the working day five days a week.”
by teed_off_47mech
Sunday, November 04 2012, 8:10PM
“You know I grew up with both parents working and raising two kids. And look I turned out great! Just the thought of getting a nanny to look after or even raise my child would be nonsense. Why even have a child if you don't even make the time to raise them. To me that is just lazy parenting if my parents were able find time to care for us then others out there could do the same. If you ask me and looking around at all the lazy parenting going on in the malls and public places, I really think the parents should be trained and evaluated before they have the right conceive.”
by NewCrunch
Sunday, November 04 2012, 7:11PM
“I have a better idea: how about training for the parents to strap there chidren in car seats, to prevent their spoilt little brats from running all over the place,.....”
by in dubai too long
Sunday, November 04 2012, 1:55PM
“MAID is different from a NANNY. Training a NANNY is a brilliant idea, that i can agree.
But training a Maid to look after a child a well is not good. A maid cooks and cleans the house, do the laundry etc. and adding the childcare will be a bit too much. Aside from the maid being overworked, over-stressed and underpaid; juggling 3 to 4 responsibilities in the household is not good.
A case scenario is this : "the maid is cleaning the bedroom and since she is also looking after your toddler; she took the toddler with her in the bedroom while cleaning. She was busy dusting the cabinet tops and didn't see the toddler putting something in its mouth that resulted in the toddler chocking."
We need to differentiate a maid and a nanny as a NANNY looks after the most precious in a household which is...a CHILD.”
by Muna Khalil
Sunday, November 04 2012, 12:40PM
“it will be highly appreciated....really good idea”