The Myth of the College Educated Nanny

[Anonymous]

My nanny started college in her country, but had to quit for financial reasons. She is nice, smart, loving, problem solvers, lives my kids and has 3 kids herself. She is patient and creative… much more than I am. She is a stable presence in my kids’ lives and since we don’t have relatives nearby, her family plays a very important role in my kids’ lives. Nanny’s kids (and husband) often hang out together with my kids, go to parks, zoo, museums, etc. she is really great!

I have a PhD and DH has a masters. We are clearly “book” smart… much more than nanny is, but she has qualities we don’t have. I would never work as a nanny and a woman with a bachelor degree that does, might not be that smart if she can’t get a better job with career prospects.

[Anonymous]

IME agencies don’t have a lot of college graduates. We found our nanny on care.com, too. We wanted a college graduate with preschool teaching experience and she’s been a godsend. She’s been with us for nearly three years and has no desire to leave! She loves our kids.

[Anonymous]

Ask yourself what QUALITIES you are looking for in a nanny.

Why a college degree? What use is that for an infant or toddler? Is she going to discuss Nietzsche with them? Or advanced biology? Of course not.

Focus on the qualities and not on the degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My two year old builds legos with “cantilevers” and says “this not precarious”. He uses words like taciturn and trodden. He says he has no “impulse control”.

Yeah, it’s been great having his first teacher (nanny) be a college graduate and otherwise brilliant woman. She is both experienced as well as educated and loves the stuffing out of my kids. And like an earlier PP, she is constantly in a quest to learn more and more.

Also potty trained DS at 22 months easily and he’s a really sweet, kind kid.

Sorry, I must have missed the potty training course in my college catalog....

[Anonymous]

I agree that a college degree isn't necessary.

But also, I don't think you can count on *any* nanny being around for more than 2 years. Their life may change, yours may change, and by the time the kid is 2.5, maybe you want to send them to some immersion montessori nature school or something.

[Anonymous]

What you are looking for, OP, is a self-described “Career Nanny”. They aren’t inexperienced and looking for a short, placeholder job before grad school.

A career nanny is someone who has deliberately chosen to work as a nanny because they love helping parents raise their children. They are, very often, looking for a long-term position that will last until the youngest child starts FT school, or even beyond that.

Career nannies may have college degrees or they may not. Regardless, they know how to help the children they care for flourish. Their experience means they have a lot of knowledge about child development, and new parents (all parents!) get a lot out of learning from their nannies.

To those who “don’t understand” why a college degree is needed, if you want a nanny long-term, then you need someone who can not only cuddle a baby, but also can help older children develop emotionally /physically /intellectually.

[Anonymous]

Regardless of education level, I would not want the same nanny for along time unless you keep having new babies. The best nanny for babies is a completely different kind of person than the best nanny for a six-year-old.

So I would not worry about having to change nannies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two year old builds legos with “cantilevers” and says “this not precarious”. He uses words like taciturn and trodden. He says he has no “impulse control”.

Yeah, it’s been great having his first teacher (nanny) be a college graduate and otherwise brilliant woman. She is both experienced as well as educated and loves the stuffing out of my kids. And like an earlier PP, she is constantly in a quest to learn more and more.

Also potty trained DS at 22 months easily and he’s a really sweet, kind kid.

Sorry, I must have missed the potty training course in my college catalog....

This was DCUM satire, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two year old builds legos with “cantilevers” and says “this not precarious”. He uses words like taciturn and trodden. He says he has no “impulse control”.

Yeah, it’s been great having his first teacher (nanny) be a college graduate and otherwise brilliant woman. She is both experienced as well as educated and loves the stuffing out of my kids. And like an earlier PP, she is constantly in a quest to learn more and more.

Also potty trained DS at 22 months easily and he’s a really sweet, kind kid.

Sorry, I must have missed the potty training course in my college catalog....

You clearly didn’t major in Early Childhood Development. Methods are taught in Child Psychology and, especially helpful, Infant Sociology.

[Anonymous]

I echo the above: agencies, the typical domestic help agencies, don’t handle college graduates as a rule. We have one agency in Los Angeles called Educated Nannies which only reps college educated nannies (though they include AA’s in Early Childhood Education which we would have been fine with if she had teaching experience). Definitely do your own search if no such agency exists in your area.

[Anonymous]

Our kids' nanny had a college degree, and was with us for five years (this was from the time the older was two and the younger was an infant, until the older was in 2nd grade and the younger started kindergarten). She has a degree from a regular 4 year university, though not in ECE or education. She was in her 30's and had taught in a preschool, but moved on to nannying.

We were connected to her through our neighbors, who had employed her but no longer needed child care. She also found her current position through the neighborhood grapevine.

My kids are both in late elementary/MS now- looking back, I do really appreciate that we had a single caregiver for them during those five years. She lives nearby and is still a part of their lives. We're really lucky.

As for the college degree part- she hadn't studied ECE at college, but had taken courses on her own. I do think her general educational background helped as they got older with support on school stuff and learning to read. I really valued her judgment and input on whatever was going on with the kids. And take this how you want, but in some ways I think her background made her comfortable connecting with stay at home moms in my kids' preschool. She knew everyone, the other nannies and the SAHM, and it was to my kids' benefit to have her setting up playdates with lots of different people.

[Anonymous]

I think it is best for a Nanny if she has a lot of hands-on, direct personal experience caring for children vs. one who learned everything from a childcare textbook.

That being said, I would also want a Nanny who can read, write & speak English fluently.
I would not want a Nanny who cannot pronounce words in a storybook correctly.

[Anonymous]

I'm actually shocked at this. I run an agency and have placed hundreds of college educated nannies in long term positions. In 5 years placing nannies, it's actually never come up once as an issue. All though I do focus solely on representing career nannies so I guess if an agency is representing grad students or similar, they may intend to only nanny until they graduate and pursue a different career.

Prior to the agency, I myself was a nanny/household manager for 12 years and have a Bachelor's degree in child psychology. My network of close nanny friends that I have maintained over the years are all college educated career nannies.

[Anonymous]

My kids are grown up now but I remember reading a humorous book about babies/ toddlers and two points she made were 1) GF you are going to have more than one nanny, and 2) GF she’s not going to love your kids like you do! Good advice! Our nanny after several tries stayed with us for 12 years. But she only had CC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm actually shocked at this. I run an agency and have placed hundreds of college educated nannies in long term positions. In 5 years placing nannies, it's actually never come up once as an issue. All though I do focus solely on representing career nannies so I guess if an agency is representing grad students or similar, they may intend to only nanny until they graduate and pursue a different career.

Prior to the agency, I myself was a nanny/household manager for 12 years and have a Bachelor's degree in child psychology. My network of close nanny friends that I have maintained over the years are all college educated career nannies.

Isn't there some US version of Norland Nannies?