Every nanny is different, but I much prefer our younger (27) nanny than the late-40s nanny we had for the first 1.5 years of parenthood. I hired her because I was an inexperienced new mom and thought I wanted "experience" and "maternal instincts," but all that meant was she thought she knew best, scoffed at my direction and ultimately always did her own thing, had to deal with her own children a lot and missed a lot of work, and acted like the boss of our entire home life.

Our young nanny looks to me for direction and is not invested in my child beyond being his wonderful nanny (former one acted like she was his mother and knew best, and was way too attached). She is extremely respectful, responsible and takes her job very seriously. She loves children and wants some of her own some day, so she has wonderful qualities in the childrearing realm.

I would not hire someone younger than, say, 25, only because of maturity, or someone who makes it obvious they don't love kids. But otherwise, I am pro young nanny all the way.

Anonymous wrote:I'd say women in 50-early 60s have lots of energy as a rule, if they are healthy. Young women may have more energy on the whole but not necessarily for your kids, haha. They have their social lives to use that energy. And sometimes they have so much going on in their lives, they just don't have much left for your child. Unless it's a school age child, I would say go for older nanny.

+1. Except I’d want my older nanny for my kids in elementary school too. She’s a former teacher and a safe driver!

I'd say women in 50-early 60s have lots of energy as a rule, if they are healthy. Young women may have more energy on the whole but not necessarily for your kids, haha. They have their social lives to use that energy. And sometimes they have so much going on in their lives, they just don't have much left for your child. Unless it's a school age child, I would say go for older nanny.

Anonymous wrote:I guarantee you the nanny who posted about wanting a week bereavement (paid) leave for her dead cat wasn’t an older nanny.

I remember that post a few months back. The Original Poster was not asking for full pay or even an entire week if I can recall. They were just sad since their pet died suddenly and unexpectedly. I think the Nanny’s pet was like 13 or 14.

I have no kids of my own. Yet somehow I nannied for a family of 7 children (and homeschooled them) starting when I was 28.

Age doesn’t matter. Experience and education can be indicative of ability, but having both doesn’t mean a nanny is the right nanny for your family, nor does lacking both mean a nanny couldn’t work for your family.

I guarantee you the nanny who posted about wanting a week bereavement (paid) leave for her dead cat wasn’t an older nanny.

Although age isn’t ever a deciding factor, younger people are just less settled as a rule. I can’t handle anymore drama.

I don’t think a younger nanny would work for me. I love our older nanny - so calm, knowledgeable, loving, and dependable. She loves my kids like the most devoted grandma.

And she has more energy than I have! She’s got that “it factor” with kids. All the kids run to her and listen to her.

Every older nanny I have known, has taken huge chunks of time off whether it be for injury, illness, or visiting family out of the country. My good friend is a 60 yr old career nanny and had to take 2 months for a broken ankle and 6 weeks for a fractured elbow, all within the last 18 months. So she has nothing to do with that. I myself had baby at a young age, 22, and stayed with the family I worked for for 7 yrs at that time.

The most unreliable nannies are the ones who don’t rely on an income, they live with parents, or rent a room in a house with several people, etc. and are supported by parents. While I am not a career nanny at 32, That’s all I have done my entire adult life and will stay with my current family as long as they need me.

It’s about the relationship you have with your nanny, how well you treat them, the salary and benefits you offer, and their reliability and reputation with previous employers.

The sweet spot is the professional late 40s/early 50s nannies who have lots of experience and take nannying seriously but are still young enough to be full-energy.

But those nannies are also the most expensive on the market, typically.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who hires au pairs there are upsides and downsides. The phone thing isn’t as big an issue as I thought it might be. More energy is real. But they can also just be sorta helpless about life stuff.

At worst, having an au pair is having to parent another child and I'm not up to that.

Yeah I've been very strict about only taking girls over 21, both for maturity and alcohol reasons. The one time I broke my own rule she went home early after crying literally every day from homesickness.

Anonymous wrote:As someone who hires au pairs there are upsides and downsides. The phone thing isn’t as big an issue as I thought it might be. More energy is real. But they can also just be sorta helpless about life stuff.

At worst, having an au pair is having to parent another child and I'm not up to that.