Am I the only nanny who wouldn't hire a nanny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless she needed the income and had family who could watch her baby for free, why would a nanny ever hire another nanny? If you were a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or in a career profession it can make sense but hiring a nanny for your child while you are being a nanny for another child? It just wouldn't make any sense.

OP here.
Well, being a nanny isn't my career. I guess I should have mentioned that, I am nannying to save money for grad school.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Well, being a nanny isn't my career. I guess I should have mentioned that, I am nannying to save money for grad school.

Makes more sense. You'll just have to decide when you get you there. There is a difference between being a child caregiver during a short period of a child's life and actually being a parent. Being a parent is pretty much constant and having a nanny doesn't create any bonding or attachment problems. If your future career allows for flexibility such as work from home, part time schedules, predictable schedules, and the ability to take leave if your child is ill.has a school event you may decide to keep working. You may decide to step out of the workforce for a few years. Since you had been a nanny, you already know what it is like to be with little kids everyday so you should have less risk of realizing you didn't like staying home.

To give you some perspective, working doesn't mean that your nanny has to spend more awake hours with your child than you. We had a nanny for 45 hours a week and I was fortunate to take be able to take 6 months maternity leave. The nanny spent 5-6 waking hours/3-4 napping hours with the kids from age 6 months to 2/2.5. After age 2.5/3 the nanny spent 2-3 waking hours with the kids, 3-4 hours napping and they were in preschool hours for 3 hours a day. After age 4 they were in preschool from 9-3 and only spent 2 waking hours with the nanny. Now that they are in elementary school they spend 6 hours a day with their teacher and 2 hours in sports, activities and aftercare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you get to weigh in on this unless you actually have kids. Seriously, I don't mean to be insulting, but you really can't imagine what your situation is going to be and how you'll feel when you do have your children.

ugggh, I hate when people say things like this. You can use the whole "you never know what it'll be like until you're there" thing for so many situations in life, it's simply not true for most of them though. There are very smart people who are in the position to give others advice on all different topics that they've never themselves had direct experience with. It doesn't mean they shouldn't be in the position to give advice, or make a decision based on the experiences they've seen or heard (or experienced as a nanny).

[Anonymous]

As a former nanny, I hope I never have the need to hire a nanny. I would avoid it. Why? Because there are very few good nannies out there. I've watched you over the years at the parks, libraries, schools, children's activities and the majority of you suck at your job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you get to weigh in on this unless you actually have kids. Seriously, I don't mean to be insulting, but you really can't imagine what your situation is going to be and how you'll feel when you do have your children.

ugggh, I hate when people say things like this. You can use the whole "you never know what it'll be like until you're there" thing for so many situations in life, it's simply not true for most of them though. There are very smart people who are in the position to give others advice on all different topics that they've never themselves had direct experience with. It doesn't mean they shouldn't be in the position to give advice, or make a decision based on the experiences they've seen or heard (or experienced as a nanny).

Most of us felt just like this about a whole range of lifestyle choices before we actually confronted them. You absolutely get to weigh in on these issues and your opinions are interesting because you do have a certain up-close perspective on the matter. Just recognize that your opinions about which lifestyle choices are best for you (and for others to whom you offer advice) are based more on your personal life experience and values than on how smart you are. Hopefully, you will continue to add to your life experience over time, and your values and opinions will probably evolve as a result. "Very smart people" recognize that the "right" choice is always relative to the options available when the choice must be made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a former nanny, I hope I never have the need to hire a nanny. I would avoid it. Why? Because there are very few good nannies out there. I've watched you over the years at the parks, libraries, schools, children's activities and the majority of you suck at your job.

Mmmmm Hmmmm.....

Anti-nanny troll, you are too obvious. I doubt you were ever a nanny, and I also doubt you are a parent. Just a bored child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former nanny, I hope I never have the need to hire a nanny. I would avoid it. Why? Because there are very few good nannies out there. I've watched you over the years at the parks, libraries, schools, children's activities and the majority of you suck at your job.

Mmmmm Hmmmm.....

Anti-nanny troll, you are too obvious. I doubt you were ever a nanny, and I also doubt you are a parent. Just a bored child.

It's the troll woman who doesn't know what it means. Anyone she doesn't like is her troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a former nanny, I hope I never have the need to hire a nanny. I would avoid it. Why? Because there are very few good nannies out there. I've watched you over the years at the parks, libraries, schools, children's activities and the majority of you suck at your job.

All you would have to do is change your sentence from

"I've watched you over the years...and the majority of you suck at your job."

to

"I've seen a lot of nannies over the years, and most of them were crappy."

to be significantly less inflammatory.

[Anonymous]

I'm a nanny that has hired a PT nanny to care for my child, two of them, actually.

[Anonymous]

I'm a nanny who has been in this profession for almost 13 years. Within the next 18 months I'll be making a career change. At that point, if there is need for me to have child care I would absolutely consider hiring a nanny.

I would never put my child in a day care center. I worked in a couple of day care centers over a three year span. I also have a degree in early childhood education, and through the course of completing that degree I spent a considerable amount of time observing different child care programs...close to 100 hours total. That is an environment I have no desire to have my child in, particularly an infant, toddler, or two-year-old.

My standards would be incredibly high in terms of hiring a nanny, but any nanny who passed those standards is someone I would want my child to bond with. Kids go through periods of preferring one adult over another, but at the end of they day they know who their parents are (provided those parents are loving individuals who show an interest in and spend quality time with their child).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former nanny, I hope I never have the need to hire a nanny. I would avoid it. Why? Because there are very few good nannies out there. I've watched you over the years at the parks, libraries, schools, children's activities and the majority of you suck at your job.

Mmmmm Hmmmm.....

Anti-nanny troll, you are too obvious. I doubt you were ever a nanny, and I also doubt you are a parent. Just a bored child.

I really hate to disappoint you, but I am a former nanny. Yes, as another poster pointed out, I could have replied in a different way, but honestly, from what I have seen over the years, the majority of you have no business watching someone's child. When you ignore a child at the park, who is standing next to you crying, so you can read your magazine or talk on the phone, you are in the wrong profession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former nanny, I hope I never have the need to hire a nanny. I would avoid it. Why? Because there are very few good nannies out there. I've watched you over the years at the parks, libraries, schools, children's activities and the majority of you suck at your job.

Mmmmm Hmmmm.....

Anti-nanny troll, you are too obvious. I doubt you were ever a nanny, and I also doubt you are a parent. Just a bored child.

I really hate to disappoint you, but I am a former nanny. Yes, as another poster pointed out, I could have replied in a different way, but honestly, from what I have seen over the years, the majority of you have no business watching someone's child. When you ignore a child at the park, who is standing next to you crying, so you can read your magazine or talk on the phone, you are in the wrong profession.

Oh friendly poster, again with the inflammatory phrasing.

Why must you continue to use the second person pronoun when it's most likely that you have never, in fact, seen US at work in your community? Just say "nannies" rather than "you" and people will take you much more seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former nanny, I hope I never have the need to hire a nanny. I would avoid it. Why? Because there are very few good nannies out there. I've watched you over the years at the parks, libraries, schools, children's activities and the majority of you suck at your job.

Mmmmm Hmmmm.....

Anti-nanny troll, you are too obvious. I doubt you were ever a nanny, and I also doubt you are a parent. Just a bored child.

I really hate to disappoint you, but I am a former nanny. Yes, as another poster pointed out, I could have replied in a different way, but honestly, from what I have seen over the years, the majority of you have no business watching someone's child. When you ignore a child at the park, who is standing next to you crying, so you can read your magazine or talk on the phone, you are in the wrong profession.

Oh friendly poster, again with the inflammatory phrasing.

Why must you continue to use the second person pronoun when it's most likely that you have never, in fact, seen US at work in your community? Just say "nannies" rather than "you" and people will take you much more seriously.

You must be taking me pretty seriously if I ruffled your feathers. The majority of nannies I ever came across should not be working with children. Is that better for you? There were maybe five nannies I ever observed over the years that I thought were good with the children they were watching. The rest of the nannies I saw, no way would I ever let them near my child. I hope parents really start waking up to the fact that most people who call themselves a nanny should not be employed as one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The majority of nannies I ever came across should not be working with children. There were maybe five nannies I ever observed over the years that I thought were good with the children they were watching. The rest of the nannies I saw, no way would I ever let them near my child. I hope parents really start waking up to the fact that most people who call themselves a nanny should not be employed as one.

Much better, thanks. No problem at all with this.

[Anonymous]

I have already decided In my head that I would not want to be a full time SAHM. Sounds BORING. But I do believe kids benefit from some time at home with a parent. I also don't like the ideas of in home daycares. So, Yes I would hire a great, well picked nanny to watch my kids part time and maybe do a daycare center part time. I think my future children can benefit from both. I would not want to be the parent who can't do anything without my toddler clinging to my leg but I still want to have a close relationship with my kids.