Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:55     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nobody thinks the gap year will backfire? Nannies make good money compared to peers at 18-25. But their potential for advancement and higher salary dead ends.


At which point the OP's sensible, level-headed daughter will realize that she needs to go to college. This is also the experience of the nannies who have posted on this thread.

The barrier of going to college in your mid-20s just to get a bachelors is much harder to overcome than just doing it while you have the momentum at 18. I have a friend who got a job as a secretary right out of school making 40k when the rest of us were making 25k and she is still a secretary 20 years later.


I'm a legal secretary. I earn $76k a year, give or take a little depending on overtime. My cousin has a masters degree and is a reporter, earning 10 grand less than me. My other cousin has a masters and is a teacher, also earning less than me. So being an educated person is great, sure, but formal education is not everything. They are 40 and 43, and both have student loans. I have no student loans.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:52     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nobody thinks the gap year will backfire? Nannies make good money compared to peers at 18-25. But their potential for advancement and higher salary dead ends.


At which point the OP's sensible, level-headed daughter will realize that she needs to go to college. This is also the experience of the nannies who have posted on this thread.

The barrier of going to college in your mid-20s just to get a bachelors is much harder to overcome than just doing it while you have the momentum at 18. I have a friend who got a job as a secretary right out of school making 40k when the rest of us were making 25k and she is still a secretary 20 years later.


I'm the earlier nanny poster. I actually did start college with my peers. I was unfocused and unmotivated, lost my scholarship, and screwed up my GPA. I have since transferred schools and changed majors. I agree that there is a slight loss of momentum, but now in my mid 20's I can really understand WHY I need to do this, how expensive it really is, and I will graduate this spring with a 4.0 (at my new school), very little debt, and enough in my savings to buy a home. I am looking at a pay-cut as a make the switch out of nannying, which is hard to swallow, but overall I'm in a much better position than most of my peers. They are up to their eye balls in student loans, have very little work experience, no savings, and they're making the same $30k I will be when I switch careers.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:33     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nobody thinks the gap year will backfire? Nannies make good money compared to peers at 18-25. But their potential for advancement and higher salary dead ends.


At which point the OP's sensible, level-headed daughter will realize that she needs to go to college. This is also the experience of the nannies who have posted on this thread.

The barrier of going to college in your mid-20s just to get a bachelors is much harder to overcome than just doing it while you have the momentum at 18. I have a friend who got a job as a secretary right out of school making 40k when the rest of us were making 25k and she is still a secretary 20 years later.


But she doesn't have the momentum at 18. She doesn't want to go. (According to the OP.)

Well, she doesn't have the desire, but if most of her peers are going and it's more socially acceptable to enter college at 18 than in your mid-20s, then I'd call that momentum... or at least no barriers.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:15     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
My nanny earned more than I did as a recent college grad, and not too far from what I earned my first year out of law school! With multiple kids and overtime, that wage really adds up. So it is not actually a horrific decision professionally. That said, there are many disadvantages, like poor or no benefits, lack of flexibility, and frequent unemployment as kids go to school.

I say let her do it, but encourage her to study at night for an early childhood credential of some sort. That will give more flexibility if she wants to work in a center.

Don't worry too much! I can see lots of job paths emerging from this choice.

Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:11     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nobody thinks the gap year will backfire? Nannies make good money compared to peers at 18-25. But their potential for advancement and higher salary dead ends.


At which point the OP's sensible, level-headed daughter will realize that she needs to go to college. This is also the experience of the nannies who have posted on this thread.

The barrier of going to college in your mid-20s just to get a bachelors is much harder to overcome than just doing it while you have the momentum at 18. I have a friend who got a job as a secretary right out of school making 40k when the rest of us were making 25k and she is still a secretary 20 years later.


But she doesn't have the momentum at 18. She doesn't want to go. (According to the OP.)
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:07     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nobody thinks the gap year will backfire? Nannies make good money compared to peers at 18-25. But their potential for advancement and higher salary dead ends.


At which point the OP's sensible, level-headed daughter will realize that she needs to go to college. This is also the experience of the nannies who have posted on this thread.

The barrier of going to college in your mid-20s just to get a bachelors is much harder to overcome than just doing it while you have the momentum at 18. I have a friend who got a job as a secretary right out of school making 40k when the rest of us were making 25k and she is still a secretary 20 years later.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:01     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:Nobody thinks the gap year will backfire? Nannies make good money compared to peers at 18-25. But their potential for advancement and higher salary dead ends.


At which point the OP's sensible, level-headed daughter will realize that she needs to go to college. This is also the experience of the nannies who have posted on this thread.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 14:00     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:Hi, OP here.
Thank you all for your input. I like the idea of the gap year. To the pp that mentioned anxiety you could be on to something while my daughter has always been very level headed moving out of her comfort zone and into challenging situations has never been easy for her.
I think I just don't want her to be stuck and pick the safe option.
She's our only child and she is far brighter and more academically gifted than I was. I want her too reach for the stars.


OP, maybe it would help to think of it as -- she's not going to college FOR NOW. That doesn't mean that she will never go to college.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 13:59     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Nobody thinks the gap year will backfire? Nannies make good money compared to peers at 18-25. But their potential for advancement and higher salary dead ends.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 13:54     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:Hi, OP here.
Thank you all for your input. I like the idea of the gap year. To the pp that mentioned anxiety you could be on to something while my daughter has always been very level headed moving out of her comfort zone and into challenging situations has never been easy for her.
I think I just don't want her to be stuck and pick the safe option.
She's our only child and she is far brighter and more academically gifted than I was. I want her too reach for the stars.


At some point you have to stand back and allow her to make decisions for herself, even if it's not what you want. I can't tell you how damaged the relationships with adults in my life were over their disappointment in me. It's really crushing.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 13:51     Subject: Re:DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:I'm curious if OP ever had a nanny.


No we never had a nanny. DD was in daycare or home with me.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 13:50     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Hi, OP here.
Thank you all for your input. I like the idea of the gap year. To the pp that mentioned anxiety you could be on to something while my daughter has always been very level headed moving out of her comfort zone and into challenging situations has never been easy for her.
I think I just don't want her to be stuck and pick the safe option.
She's our only child and she is far brighter and more academically gifted than I was. I want her too reach for the stars.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 13:50     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Tell her she can be a nanny but she has to get her college degree first (only if you're paying). If she wants to nanny instead of going to college then tell her that she will have to support herself.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 13:43     Subject: DD wants to be a nanny
Anonymous wrote:As a nanny (who's parents are also disappointed in my choice) I don't think spending some time as a nanny is a terrible thing, but I wouldn't encourage her to make a career out of it. I've been nannying since I was 19 (now 24) and honestly I'm bored and burnt out. There is no advancement, nithing to really shoot for, and it can be tedious after a time. I'm finishing up school now and cannot wait to be finished nannying. All of that being said, I'm glad that I did it.

I've used nannying to pay for school and live on my own, which has taught me a lot about money management and made me more independent than many of my peers. I have real work and business experience, and I've learned to negotiate and advocate for myself as a professional in a way many of my peers have not had to. There is also something humbling about essentially being a servant that I think has been character building. I have a lot more respect for those in thankless serving positions. There is a lot of growing that your daughter can do working a job like this, and it would be great as a gap year, but not a career.


Nanny here and I agree 1000% ! I am also working on getting out of the nanny field. I love the kids I care for now, and my time as a nanny. I appreciate what I have learned, and honestly think I will be more empathetic to working parents in my future career than had I gone straight to school, but I wouldn't recommend it as a life choice it is tough and doesn't leave you with many options you are completely at the whim of your employer and those big paying gigs are hard to come by. Compromise with a gap year.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2015 13:43     Subject: Re:DD wants to be a nanny
I'm curious if OP ever had a nanny.