Looking for volunteer nannies for low income mom self care project

[Anonymous]

A Girl Scout troop of 10th-12th graders could help with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I have to make a living too. If I'm going to volunteer, I'm going to do it for a worthy cause, not for some immigrant families who sound like they weren't in the position to wisely have children in the first place.

This isn't a real organization providing support for low income women. This is an woman who is renting space in a suite with several others in private practice. Given what she charges she can pay a teenager or adult $10-20 an hour to provide babysitting. If you are going to volunteer there are far better places to do it. Who knows if she even checked out the homes you'd be going into.

low income mothers are not all immigrants or illegal or unmarried

[Anonymous]

OP, while you want to assist the demographic of low-income working mothers please understand that that is what many Nannies themselves consist of.

Very few would be willing to offer free services for charity alone as they themselves would be in the same boat as those they would be assisting.

And while funding is a goal of yours, there is no guarantee that this will actually be the end result which would be detrimental to any Nannies who are offering their childcare services + time for free.

While I agree that self-care is vital to low-income parents, the people who should volunteer for this type of charity should be others who are in a much better position to give.

The majority of Nannies work long hours w/little to no real job benefits and are in no state to give to charity when they themselves are the ones who could ultimately benefit from charity.

Hope this makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I have to make a living too. If I'm going to volunteer, I'm going to do it for a worthy cause, not for some immigrant families who sound like they weren't in the position to wisely have children in the first place.

This isn't a real organization providing support for low income women. This is an woman who is renting space in a suite with several others in private practice. Given what she charges she can pay a teenager or adult $10-20 an hour to provide babysitting. If you are going to volunteer there are far better places to do it. Who knows if she even checked out the homes you'd be going into.

low income mothers are not all immigrants or illegal or unmarried

??? never said they were.

[Anonymous]

OP,
Instead of asking for volunteers, why not help these moms co-ordinate a babysitting co-op?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,
Instead of asking for volunteers, why not help these moms co-ordinate a babysitting co-op?

This is the best idea I've seen on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,
Instead of asking for volunteers, why not help these moms co-ordinate a babysitting co-op?

This is the best idea I've seen on this thread.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I have to make a living too. If I'm going to volunteer, I'm going to do it for a worthy cause, not for some immigrant families who sound like they weren't in the position to wisely have children in the first place.

This isn't a real organization providing support for low income women. This is an woman who is renting space in a suite with several others in private practice. Given what she charges she can pay a teenager or adult $10-20 an hour to provide babysitting. If you are going to volunteer there are far better places to do it. Who knows if she even checked out the homes you'd be going into.

low income mothers are not all immigrants or illegal or unmarried

The OP mentioned specifically bilingual abilities. Non english-speaking = immigrant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many nannies are low income themselves, OP, and many also work weekend gigs in order to make "extra" money.

You need to expand your volunteer base if this has any chance at being successful. Why not ask other parents to volunteer, or students?

I think she wants nannies to avoid having to train people, and to be able to fund raise on the idea that this is "professional" child care, not babysitting.

OP, I think you need to fund raise first if you are committed to the nanny idea; you might find child care professionals willing to do this for a cut rate, but not for free. Self care is important, but it's hard to justify working extra hours for free so that someone I don't know can go see a movie or something. If I want to donate time like that, I have family who needs it just as much.

Bingo

[Anonymous]

OP, I believe you mean well. But why are you asking only nannies? I am genuinely curious.

[Anonymous]

I am curious now that OP hasn't weighed in yet to comment on any of the output received.

Was this a legit posting....??

[Anonymous]

I think it's important to remember that nannies often work for wealthy or upper middle class families, but they themselves are not wealthy (or upper middle class, usually.) Most nannies want to help people and do nice things for others but can't afford to regularly work for free. For one thing it would preclude them from working for pay which they may very well need, and also nannying is hard work and nannies deserve down time just like the moms OP wants to help. It might be OK to ask a nanny to do something like this once, but totally unfair to ask them to do it regularly.

I agree with those who suggested teens, girl scouts, or organizing the moms to help each other.

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, thank you for your passionate responses. I appreciate you taking the time. I did not mean any disrespect to the work you do. I was just inquiring your thoughts on a project not yet initiated, you have given me plenty more to think about.


Thank you

Cheryl

[Anonymous]

Just finished reading all the posts. Thank you for your insights and I wanted to be able to address a few of your points.

I appreciate you shedding light to nannies own needs of selfcare. I never meant to dismiss that. Do know that my reaching out to this group was not out of an idea that you need less time for yourselves, it was more out of the idea that you care about children and initially i thought why not reach out to a group that already loves children. But your responses brought to light other important issues and it gave me greater understanding to what you do and your own challenges you face.

I am not just reaching out to nannies, I am also reaching out to other potential groups looking for volunteer work.

Most importantly I wanted you to know how important I think your work is and by no means my intention was to diminish your work, on the contrary I reached out because I have the outmost respect for what you do, but perhaps I needed to learn more about your profession before reaching out.

Thank you for being open and real.

Cheryl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished reading all the posts. Thank you for your insights and I wanted to be able to address a few of your points.

I appreciate you shedding light to nannies own needs of selfcare. I never meant to dismiss that. Do know that my reaching out to this group was not out of an idea that you need less time for yourselves, it was more out of the idea that you care about children and initially i thought why not reach out to a group that already loves children. But your responses brought to light other important issues and it gave me greater understanding to what you do and your own challenges you face.

I am not just reaching out to nannies, I am also reaching out to other potential groups looking for volunteer work.

Most importantly I wanted you to know how important I think your work is and by no means my intention was to diminish your work, on the contrary I reached out because I have the outmost respect for what you do, but perhaps I needed to learn more about your profession before reaching out.

Thank you for being open and real.

Cheryl

The biggest issue is that most nannies either cobble together several part-time jobs and work 45-60 hours per week that way, or they have a full time job (45-60+) or a full-time job and a part time job (easily over 60 per week). Most nannies don't have the time to be able to both volunteer on a regular basis and take care of themselves and their families. While we love children, it's very time-consuming.

I agree with a PP, your best options are to create a support group and allow the moms to trade individually for babysitting and/or create a co-op.