Reply to Am I the only one not crazy about the idea of a nanny?

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Reply to "Am I the only one not crazy about the idea of a nanny?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Precovid I had my charge in the library playroom with four other little kids and women I thought were their mothers.  We all were surprised to find out we were all nannies!  Even American nannies don’t recognize other American nannies.

What anti-nanny posters are seeing are the very low paid foreign nannies.  [/quote]

And to add, it’s the American nannies who generally frequent this forum.  And from all over the country because there isn’t another good nanny board. [/quote]

You must not live in DC. Here the vast majority of nannies are from Latin America, the Caribbean, or Africa. They are paid very well as many have decades of experience as nannies and preschool teachers and good references from local families. Nannie’s who will speak Spanish or French with the kids are particularly prized, especially by DC families who plan to do language immersion for elementary school.

I have met white nannies in DC but they are somewhat rare and yes, people often initially assume they are the child’s mom or grandmother. However, people figure it out quickly because if you have children in the same age cohort, you will get to know the other caregivers at story times and playgrounds. Also, once kids are verbal, you will find out immediately because toddlers/preschoolers will tell you their family’s whole deal in the first 5 minutes.

This is based on my experience with my own kid on maternity leave and my experience interviewing and hiring nannies in DC. I can count the number of white nannies I’ve met on my fingers, and the ones who were American (and not au pairs) on one hand. Versus dozens and dozens of non-white nannies.

If you don’t live in DC, perhaps you have a different experience.

I’d say about 70% of the nannies I’ve observed in DC are pretty mediocre (and that includes a few actively bad ones where I felt bad for the kids because the nannies were unkind and/or truly neglectful). But good childcare is hard to come by and I had a similar experience looking at daycares— many of them are so-so.

I think some people want to believe their childcare provider is better than it is, and that’s understandable. I also think kids largely do okay with mediocre childcare. But I would never claim a nanny is WAY better than daycare, or vice versa, because I have enough firsthand knowledge to know that either way, you will probably just go okay, unless you are either very lucky or very rich, or both. Which some people are![/quote]

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