做蓝领的工作 拿白领的工资

目前家政市场中的保姆，大多来自农村、城市下岗人员，以体力劳动为主，获得的相关培训较少，在科学喂养和育儿观念、知识和方法等方面都缺乏科学指导，无论是从学历还是专业技能来看，都很难承担起0至10岁小孩的早教育婴服务。但是经过专业培训，这个紧缺市场渐渐涌现出一批专业保姆，可以缓解那些平时忙于工作的年轻父母的压力。但是社会上普遍存在对“保姆”职业的偏见和雇佣关系的紧张等问题。

Panpan was born less than a month ago. After giving birth, her mother, Zhang Junjun, hired a maternity matron to take care of the baby and learn some professional skills as to how to look after her.

"Every time after she gives the baby a bath, she would disinfect the baby's cord stump. Sometimes the baby's bellybutton started oozing blood, but she handled it well, and it healed quickly. She is very experienced."

The maternity matron Zhang hired is a retired middle-aged woman surnamed Xu. She has been providing maternity services for years.

Although her salary as a maternity matron is much more than her pension, Xu says her family was not very supportive of her job at first.

"My family thought being a maternity matron was just like being a house nurse, and they thought it was not respectable. So they didn't want me to take this job."

Xu says in the past people always believed that taking care of infants did not require any professional knowledge and was only a job for women from lower educational backgrounds.

But as the living standards of the general public continue to improve, more parents are starting to look at a more professional way to take care of their babies. And the demand for specialized baby-care nurses, or maternity matrons, is growing.

Xu says to become a standard maternity matron, she received a 3-month professional training on how to prepare a nutritious diet for infants, how to bathe and massage babies, and help them do the necessary physical exercises.

"Now the public has shown more and more respect for maternity matrons, because we know more about how to take care of the baby professionally."

Although hiring a maternity matron can be helpful, those from older generations are sometimes skeptical of the necessity of their services.

Many worry that as family outsiders, maternity matrons cannot fully devote themselves to caring for babies.

Wang Xiuxiang, Zhang Junjun's mother, has some concerns.

"I think mothers should take care of their babies by themselves, which helps to develop a close emotional relationship between the parents and the baby. Also as the baby grows up, the parents can gradually know the baby's character and habits, which you cannot fully understand if you leave the child to maternity matrons."

But as most young parents are employed, few have the spare time to take care of a baby by themselves. Hiring maternity matrons remains a popular option.

Wang Lei is a young mother living in Beijing. Her own parents are not in good health, so they cannot help her out when she and her husband have to work every weekday. She has decided to hire a maternity matron.

Wang says she tries to spend as much time as she can with her baby and often talks with her maternity matron about the baby's condition.

She says the most important thing is communication and mutual respect between an employer and maternity matron.

"When you decide to hire a maternity matron, it means that you are going to have her as a part of your family and your daily life. That requires sincere communication from both the employers and the maternity matrons. I believe that if we respect and understand her, she will also treat our baby well."