Blog/2026-04-23/Nanny State
Astra and I like to go to the local park in Mission Bay to play. The classic thing that happens is that we end up knowing the other kids' names but not their caregivers. So that's "Jaden's dad" or "Emma's mom" or whatever, but sometimes Astra takes some time playing with toys that the other kids lend her and we get to have a conversation. Today, two things of interest happened.
Cost of a Nanny in San Francisco
[edit]One of the women I was talking to was taking care of a 3 year old boy playing in the sand. He was very sweet and lent Astra a little shovel to dig with while he used his big shovel. In an amusing coincidence, this nanny was from South India (Mysore, in particular) though she was Tibetan in ethnicity. Her Asiatic features led me to assume that she was from here but she grew up not very far (in a global sense, considering where we were) from me. A second coincidence was that she'd moved here from Taoyuan Nankan, quite close from Banqiao in New Taipei City where we were just last week.
In any case, talking to her I learned how much she made: roughly $10k/month on official payroll for 9 hrs/day and 5 days a week. That's a pretty hefty fee but she was working with clients in the posh Rincon Hill area so it kind of made sense, especially since she's got quite a few skills and things she does. She can speak Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hindi, and English and cooks for the child as well.
Getting Roasted
[edit]Astra then wanted to play on the swings so we walked over and took a swing next to another couple of kids with their nannies. The nanny for the child right next to us was quite funny. We had a short conversation until Astra started getting too tired to enjoy herself.
| Speaker | Line |
|---|---|
| Nanny | Pretty girl. Is her mother Chinese? |
| Me | Thank you. Yeah, my wife's Taiwanese. |
| Nanny | Oh, her mum must be pretty. |
| Me | haha |
| Nanny | You must be making good money. |
| Me | hahaha |
She then proceeded to make fun of my inability to say that my daughter was 13 months. In my defense I was trying to say 13 months in Mandarin and failing!
