The Myth of the College Educated Nanny

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

You are making more assumptions here than many others. There many more reasons than "might not be that smart if she can’t get a better job with career prospects".

[Anonymous]

I mean, both "groups" have a point here.

The primary role of an infant nanny is to offer nurturing, safe, environment in the early years.

If the nanny is the primary "awake time" caregiver, they are also the primary source of oral language, and we know that exposure to vocabulary in early years is an important predictor of school success in the early years.

But, as we all know, there are lots of reasons why someone with a big vocabulary might not be a great caregiver.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP, that you should think about infant care differently than care for ES kids.

My suggestion is to find a nanny that is warm, caring, and responsible who can drive for infant/toddler care. This nanny can then take your kid to enrichment activities/half day preschool/and playdates.

Once your kid gets to ES, you can do an afternoon/evening nanny who does some household stuff for you in the early afternoon, then makes dinner for kids, drives them around, and helps them with homework. As long as you are willing to pay the hourly rate, you will be able to find a college educated person to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

PP here. There is one nanny school in Oregon and then several colleges offer related programs, but most of the nannies I've placed have degrees in psychology, early childhood education, social work, or similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

You might want to think about what would happen if all the college educated nannies that you consider “not…that smart” all quit working as nannies so they could “get a better job with career prospects”. Think about who would be providing the nanny care families count on…

I’m glad you admit your inability to handle working as a nanny. It’s great to be self-aware enough that you know you’d be awful at a specific career.

You should work on your intellectual snobbery next. Assuming a college educated nanny only does the job because she’s too stupid to have a big important career makes it clear just how little respect you have for the people who make your life work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

If you’ve chosen well, your kid will be devastated to lose their nanny. We moved when my child was 7 and my ex-nanny and oldest still FaceTime almost every weekend. There’s a lot of love there that wouldn’t be if we had switched nannies every 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

You might want to think about what would happen if all the college educated nannies that you consider “not…that smart” all quit working as nannies so they could “get a better job with career prospects”. Think about who would be providing the nanny care families count on…

I’m glad you admit your inability to handle working as a nanny. It’s great to be self-aware enough that you know you’d be awful at a specific career.

You should work on your intellectual snobbery next. Assuming a college educated nanny only does the job because she’s too stupid to have a big important career makes it clear just how little respect you have for the people who make your life work.

My whole point is that a college degree does not make you smart and THAT is something that in my opinion is important. You don’t need someone that can take tests and answer multiple choice questions. You do need someone who is smart, creative, patient, loving and someone that experience with kids. A college degree (especially for young kids) is useless.

Being with someone from another country might be a lot more eye and mind opening than a young American college graduate. Teaching your kids a different language, culture, way of life, etc. is much more important (in my opinion) than someone that has a large vocabulary…

We all have different priorities in raising our kids and value different traits in our care takers. A college degree is pretty close to the bottom of my list of priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

You might want to think about what would happen if all the college educated nannies that you consider “not…that smart” all quit working as nannies so they could “get a better job with career prospects”. Think about who would be providing the nanny care families count on…

I’m glad you admit your inability to handle working as a nanny. It’s great to be self-aware enough that you know you’d be awful at a specific career.

You should work on your intellectual snobbery next. Assuming a college educated nanny only does the job because she’s too stupid to have a big important career makes it clear just how little respect you have for the people who make your life work.

My whole point is that a college degree does not make you smart and THAT is something that in my opinion is important. You don’t need someone that can take tests and answer multiple choice questions. You do need someone who is smart, creative, patient, loving and someone that experience with kids. A college degree (especially for young kids) is useless.

Being with someone from another country might be a lot more eye and mind opening than a young American college graduate. Teaching your kids a different language, culture, way of life, etc. is much more important (in my opinion) than someone that has a large vocabulary…

We all have different priorities in raising our kids and value different traits in our care takers. A college degree is pretty close to the bottom of my list of priorities.

And a college degree is the first qualifying factor in mine.

I agree that college educated doesn’t mean smart or good at your job in any field. But just like hiring a teacher, I want my kids nanny to have a college degree in Early Childhood Education. Bare minimum.