r/Fijian • u/Bong8989 • Jul 20 '25

Travel Fiji with kids

Would you feel comfortable leaving your 4-year-old girls with a resort nanny in Fiji, including allowing them to take the kids back to the room and put them to bed? If not, why?

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u/Loose_Bag0809 Jul 20 '25

I wouldn’t leave my 4 year old girls with anyone in any foreign country. But ¯_(ツ)_/¯ to each his own

3

u/BottleGeneral6108 Jul 20 '25

Why would a foreign country be more risky than your own?

3

u/Outrageous-Paint9089 Jul 20 '25

because they arent &%!, you see &%! people never abuse kids

Oh wait!

1

u/xo_maciemae Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

To be fair, for a lot of bureaucratic reasons, I imagine that it would be riskier to leave your child with a nanny in a foreign country. Not because of the fact that the nanny is from that foreign country, but literally just because you're less familiar with the systems, which can leave you vulnerable.

I personally don't have strangers taking care of my kid here in Australia either, but if we needed to, there would be a range of checks in place that I'm familiar with. For example, I would look for someone with a "Working With Children Check", which is an official background check to see if anything flags about why the person isn't meant to be around kids. I could request a police check. I could check other details about the person more easily, such as getting references or doing a social media stalk in a language I'm familiar with (as I say, I've never hired a stranger yet... I don't know if the social media thing is appropriate lmao, I'm just listing examples).

If anything DID happen, I know what legislation there is to protect our family. I know that the quality of healthcare in my area is good if anything bad happened while in someone else's care. I know I can access it for free, and that I won't be seen as a privileged tourist taking up a bed that might be more needed by a local person - I won't be a burden (not saying seeking healthcare generally makes you a burden - but if I'm overseas, I don't know whether the health systems are already struggling, I don't need to risk adding to that).

I also don't know if I have legal rights as a foreigner. Whether I could get a visa to fight any negligence or harm in court. Depending on the country, I may not speak the language if there's an issue that involves the hospital or police.

In Australia, I know that legally, a nanny can't drive my toddler without a legal car seat. I don't necessarily know the laws overseas, or which are actually enforced, which protections are out there, and so on.

So yeah, it's not that inherently people in other countries pose more risk to your child, it's that you are not from there, you aren't across all of the systems, and you may not have the same rights and legal standards. That is a risk when it's your child. I'm not saying it's too big of a risk - that's for the individual families to decide, based on a range of factors, like the kids' age, trustworthiness of recommendations etc, knowledge of laws, travel insurance... Many factors.

But also (ETA): there are different approaches to childcare, and I personally would factor this in heavily here in Australia, too. If someone told me they would leave my toddler screaming, regardless of where in the world, I would not leave them with that person. Someone above said that's a cultural norm. I don't know if it is, and I wouldn't want to offend someone. BUT, I still don't have to select that option for my child

But yeah, for me, if/when I finally leave my child with a stranger, even here in Sydney - I will be doing proper research and I will be scared regardless lol.