Mommies and Nannies

young mom carrying infant

There are LOTS of babies in Indonesia! Yet believe it or not, I honestly cannot remember seeing or hearing one cry. But then what do they have to cry about anyway? Most of them seem very content to be carried along, snugly conformed against their mother or nanny's warm body. Theirs is the life. 

Nannies are very common here in Indonesia. From what I have read, even the middle class hires household help, ranging from nanny (pengasuh anak), general helper (pembantu), driver to gardener. Though nannies are common, I suspect that most of the women I see walking the streets on a daily basis are carrying their own babies.

side view of selendang

babies always appear content

Indonesian nanny, Chinese mother

But for the middle class and up, it is not uncommon to employ helpers to “serve” in different capacities. In fact, these helpers are often referred to as “servants.” One thing we quickly became aware of shortly after coming here is the “class thing.” Specifically, the Chinese generally tend to be much better off financially than the Indonesians; thus Indonesians must work for Chinese. It was shocking for me the first time I observed our Chinese landlady interacting with our Indonesian cleaning lady. In a word, I was mortified! It was also very obvious that our former driver (Indonesian) very much disliked Chinese in general,  and made no apologies for it. So we have definitely felt some tension.

young Chinese couple with Indonesian nanny

Given the above, it is extremely common to see Chinese parents using Indonesian nannies, especially in the large malls or in nicer parts of the city. Having just returned from Jakarta where there are several over-the-top exclusive malls, we observed it literally everywhere we looked!  Indonesian nannies usually dress in pale pink, pale blue or white uniforms and can be seen tagging a few feet behind a young Chinese mother, while carrying the baby, diaper bag or both.

same combo

According to the expat website (below), most of these Indonesian nannies probably have only elementary or junior high education, though a few will have completed high school. Sometimes their duties include house work, cooking and laundry in addition to child care but often their primary responsibility is to care for the children. It is obvious when walking in the malls that some of the wealthier families employ one nanny per child.

I also learned that Indonesians tend to be much more lenient that westerners with discipline. Nannies in particular love to spoil babies and let them have anything they want. Notice from the photos that mothers/nannies usually carry babies in a long scarf (selendang) rather than pushing them in strollers or letting them walk. I was surprised to learn that most Indonesian babies skip the crawling stage because of the habit of carrying them through their early toddler years.

1 family, 3 children, 3 nannies

In the months since coming to Indonesia, I have never seen a baby stroller except inside a mall. I suspect that is because there are no sidewalks here with an even surface. Additionally, strollers cost money and take up space. Thus, the selendang. For more information on nannies, check out what I found on this expat website below.

 http://www.expat.or.id/info/childcare.html

nanny carrying baby in left hand, pushing stroller with right

So what do these nannies earn for all their help? Though I have "zero" firsthand experience with nannies, some simple web searches reveal that Indonesian nannies can make anywhere from 1 million rupiah to 1.5 million rupiah per month (6 days a week). That translates to anywhere between $110 - $165 per month.