A Letter from your employer

A recent customer asked me to forward the following letter to their coming helper. They gave their blessing for us to share it with our other customers. The names have been changed to protect privacy.

Dearest Mary,

Welcome to the Chan family! While looking forward to meeting you in person, we would like to give you a brief introduction of us.

Quick Glance of Our Family

• 4 members: Mr. and Mrs. Chan,  Siu Mei (2.5 years old girl) and Ka Keung (18 months old boy)
• We are from a big Chinese family with strong family bonds. We spend a lot of family times together especially with the grandparents, our brothers and sisters.

Your Key Roles and Responsibilities

• Looking after the Children (Siu Mei and Ka Keung!!!)
  • Make sure they eat well, play well and sleep well. When you are with the children, your top priority is to look after and to play with them, to ensure their safety and well being.
• Cleaning: This includes cleaning of the floor, windows and gate, furniture and other household cleaning.
• Cooking: This includes food preparation, cooking, dish washing (post meal clean-up) and garbage dumping, etc.

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  • We do not expect our helper to be an excellent cook. The best dishes that we would expect from you are BABY FOOD/ CONGEE/ RICE for Siu Mei and Ka Keung! To maintain healthy diets, we stay with less seasoning (less oil, less salt, less sugar) and simple cooking (like boiling and steaming). We usually cook and feed our children first before having our own meals.

• Laundry and ironing
• Others/ Miscellaneous: e.g. Marketing which is to support us in grocery shopping

Our Expectations

• To maintain a safe, clean and happy living environment for the kids and family.
• To have an obedient domestic helper who is dedicated and devoted to looking after our family, who is keen to learn and to improve.

Special Attention

• When looking after the children, please focus on the children ONLY to ensure their safety and to play with them. Our children are very active and like climbing (tables, chairs and even balcony). To stop them from climbing or fighting, please don’t yell or scream at them. Please speak softly and explain to them. For example, put your hand on Ka Keung's head and tell him gently, “Ka Keung, please do not climb onto the balcony. You may fall down and it hurts.” Please keep trying and speaking to them and you will find them listen very well. (You may be surprised to find that even the 18 months old boy, Ka Keung, understands what you say and can follow instructions.). To stop them from climbing, the best thing is to sit them down and read them a book/ story. Otherwise, they love singing and dancing; or playing in the baby kitchen; or playing balls together.

• Please be patient and be gentle to the children. It may take you some time to adjust to a new living environment and a new family (to live with strangers like us!!). Likewise, it may take more time for the children to adjust to you. We would appreciate if you can give them extra patience. Siu Mei, my two year old girl, may say NO to you when you attempt to feed her or take her to the toilet. However, if you can keep smiling and keep trying, I am sure it won’t take long before she likes you. I can promise, if you give them your smiles and love, they will definitely return theirs to you.

• Please maintain a high standard of hygiene. Since both Siu Mei and Ka Keung are small, personal hygiene and environmental cleanliness (especially food, toys, etc.) are exceptionally important. Ka Keung puts not only toys into his mouth but, sometimes, anything he finds on the floor (e.g. crayons, food residual and even dust!!). Always wash hands before handling food and after arriving home (from outside, park, supermarkets, etc.). Please understand that if one baby gets sick, the other one is always unavoidable.  We do need your help to practice this well at home to prevent unnecessary illnesses and diseases.

• Please take comments for improvements. We are very organized people. We like keeping our place and things neat and tidy. If it happens that we would like something to be done in a different way, please don’t take it personal. Please focus on the matter. This is all about how to get things better for the kids and the family.

• Please be open to communicate with us. We are reasonable and open-minded people. We wish to have an obedient helper. At the same time, we would like to understand more about you and your needs. Please feel free to speak to us.

About us

• We are a happy family. We like smiling and laughing, hugs and kisses ☺
• Respect is the core value of our family. We respect each other and individuals.
• We are never perfect. We accept and learn from mistakes so we don’t repeat the same mistake!

*** If you have any question or any personal problem that may affect you to carry out your duties, please feel free to let us know. For example, if you are feeling ill, please don’t hesitate to let us know so we can help immediately.
*** Hope you enjoy the time together with us! May GOD Bless you!

Your new employers
 (name withheld)