South African Child Minder Needed

[nadiazaayman]

Hi, my husband and I are both South African. Our first child will be born in early April. I am looking for a Childminder who is afrikaans speaking with south african culture to look after our son (preferably with other south african kids) for a few hours during the week - only from September 2009 - he should then be 6 months. I live in Mortimer, Berkshire (RG7) and work in Basingstoke (RG24).

'had she been asking for someone French, doubt it would have caused all this ridiculous fuss '

I agree Fox. The people on here are not very friendly sometimes, and themselves come across as prejudiced at times... so if someone on here asks for a French/French speaking CM they should just 'go back to France'???

How inclusive and tolerant is THAT? Quite rude if you ask me.

Agreed. Perhaps in the future more questions should be asked before assumptions are made.

Must have been quiet on mn to elicit a response like this.
She asked for a cm with a language skill, we leapt on her assuming racism and deep rooted apartheid sympathy.
If a NI woman asked for an Irish speaking nanny would it make her an IRA sympathiser?
odd leaps odd

OP has (or would have) a 6 months old baby, and it will be for a couple of hours only a week. How on earth this can be seen as sheltering her child from British culture I really don't understand!

She probably just want to help baby understand one language first, and clearly (as per her OP) Afrikaans is her home language, so it would make sense to do that first then.

If some of these posters on here were (temporarily/permanently - who knows) living in a non-English speaking country, and you and your dhs were speaking English at home, I'm not convinced you wouldn't prefer the occasional childcare for your 6-month old to be English speaking if you had the choice. It's obviously not going to be the situation forever, so where the comments about schools are coming from, heaven knows.

My guess is that those who show such ignorance and prejudice have probably never set foot in South Africa but enjoy watching the (dare I say... sensationalist) news and reading the (ever so truthful) newspaper...

As a South African living in England for the last 7 years I have come across this kind of judgemental attitude time and time again sadly. Thankfully most people I deal with aren't like this at all though

There is prejudice and racism here in the UK too... it's all over the world sadly... and having a white face as a South African does not make you a racist, as being German does not make you a Nazi.

'think you need to get real nadia - or live in sa' - becj53

A charming example of British tolerance there.

WOW!
I completely forgot I placed this message, I have never done something like it before, and just assumed no one will even be bothered with answering...
And today just got a few minutes free again and thought I would have a look at good gracious! I have started a storm.

Thank you for the advice and also sincere apologies for anyone I offended. That was not my intention at all.

Really just looking for homely environment where there is a mix of children and hopefully another kid there who is afrikaans speaking or childminder is afrikaans as afrikaans is our language and I love my language and I wouldn't want my son not to able to speak it.

Thank you so much!

OP - thank you for coming back on here. I think people are just being overly sensitive. Those who say they would be flamed if they set the requirement for a British CM have missed the blindingly obvious fact that it's pretty darn easy to find a British CM. I would assume finding an Africaans speaking CM would be a damn site more difficult!

My parents native language is a European language, and they speak very little English. However, I don't speak that language at home, as to me it is my 2nd language. If I want my DS to be able to communicate with his grandparents easily, then I would hire someone who is a native speaker of that language - NOT someone who just knows it at the same level I do - that is not a native speaker. This is something I am looking at doing at some point in time. Will you all be flaming ME then?????!!!!!!

OP thank you for posting!

We wondered if we'd all scared you off!

What you have written just now makes far more sense and I think it was just the original wording that had a few people scratching heads!

Thank you!

Hope I am not risking further in-depth analysis of the issues arising from a previous request for the same... But I am also looking for a fluent Afrikaans speaking Childminder. I am South African and my husband British. Our daughter is growing up fully bilingual and I have only spoken Afrikaans to her from birth. My husband and the rest of our friends all speak English to her. She has done really well acquiring both languages.
I am to return to work in a few months and in aid of her bilingual language development require a fluent Afrikaans speaking childminder in the Shenley, WD7 9DF, Hertfordshire area. Our daughter will be 3 in December and will start attending a (although very diverse, predominantly English speaking) kindergarten in September and I will be working full-time. I am desperate to maintain her ability to converse with me, her mother, in my own language. I express myself through language and I express myself best through my mother tongue and I would love our daughter to share that experience with me.
I do not wish to offend anyone, and hope I haven't, and I hope I managed to curb my straight-talking SA manner.
If there is a fluent Afrikaans-speaking childminder out there, I would love to hear from you.

I believe when you pay for a personal service, you should be allowed to determine how it is delivered and by whom. Childcare is no different. Remember the govt. banging on about parents' choice and all that? This sentiment comes from a professional child carer, who minutes before setting off for a weeks' nanny position (that had been booked well in advance), had the job withdrawn/ cancelled because the new mum, (just home with her C-section), found out from her husband, that the nanny was black. That week... no job....no further contact! All such unpleasantness could be avoided if we were allowed to clearly indicate our preferences. I now have a website that clearly states my ethnicity. I hope the powers that be, do not pull it! still waiting for the first booking since the change