You are not a professional nanny if you need to ask:

[Anonymous]

Nannies do themselves a disservice by not acting professional and then wondering why people see them as overpaid babysitters. If you need to ask the following questions, you are embarrassing to other nannies.

1. Can I lay out at the pool instead of watching the kids who are 6 and 10? Rationale: I'm bored and a SAHM might do this.
2. Can I bring my friend along with me to work? Rationale: Why not, being a nanny is not a real job.
3. Can I bring my child to work? Rationale: Why not, childcare isn't a real job and extra kid is no more work.
4. Can I do my laundry at my employers house? Rationale: The machine in my building requires coins, MB's machine does not.

I'm sure there is more but if you are in your 20s and thinking "Gee, I wonder if I should...." the answer is no. Its entirely inappropriate and the baseline shouldn't be can I get away with it. Others see this as profession even if you aren't mature enough to realize it.

[Anonymous]

Why lecturing people?

[Anonymous]

I don't think you're giving enough people credit OP. I think people ask these questions not to see what they can "get away with" but rather to make sure they are doing the best job they can. So many nannies on here love and care about their charges. They wonder if they are doing everything exactly right and that is why they ask this forum, not for judgement but for sound, reasonable advice.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP. Yes, some of those questions can make you seem less professional, but let's be honest, Nannying isn't a very "professional" job. Do I consider and try my best to present myself as a professional nanny? Yes, of course! But this is a very personal and intimate job and it can change drastically working for one family over another. There is a lot of give and take, and the lines can easily become blurred. Many positions in the "professional working world" have a standard and a clear list of expectations. There is no standard with Nannying, you work together as a team with the children and the parents to find what works best for all involved. This is why so many questions arise. And this is why a forum like this exists in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you're giving enough people credit OP. I think people ask these questions not to see what they can "get away with" but rather to make sure they are doing the best job they can. So many nannies on here love and care about their charges. They wonder if they are doing everything exactly right and that is why they ask this forum, not for judgement but for sound, reasonable advice.

I agree with this. The problem isn't necessarily with the nannies who ask, but the nannies who respond aggressively with "MB is the one with the problem if its not okay with her."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nannies do themselves a disservice by not acting professional and then wondering why people see them as overpaid babysitters. If you need to ask the following questions, you are embarrassing to other nannies.

1. Can I lay out at the pool instead of watching the kids who are 6 and 10? Rationale: I'm bored and a SAHM might do this.
2. Can I bring my friend along with me to work? Rationale: Why not, being a nanny is not a real job.
3. Can I bring my child to work? Rationale: Why not, childcare isn't a real job and extra kid is no more work.
4. Can I do my laundry at my employers house? Rationale: The machine in my building requires coins, MB's machine does not.

I'm sure there is more but if you are in your 20s and thinking "Gee, I wonder if I should...." the answer is no. Its entirely inappropriate and the baseline shouldn't be can I get away with it. Others see this as profession even if you aren't mature enough to realize it.

Thanks for the pep talk OP. I haven't asked any of these questions because after 10 years of nannying, I know what's acceptable and what's not. I think you have too much free time on your hands to belittle the people on these forums for asking legitimate questions, whether they are appropriate questions or not is irrelevant.

I'd like to remind you that professional nannies are making a huge impact in the lives of your children. We are there to provide a safe and loving environment and to support the families we work for by making their lives more manageable by working together as a team. I am passionate about working with children, this is my profession and I feel blessed to have a job that is rewarding. I am proud to be a nanny.

[Anonymous]

Yes, some of those questions can make you seem less professional, but let's be honest, Nannying isn't a very "professional" job.

This is why nannies are not treated not respect. Nannies themselves don't see nannying as a professional career.

[Anonymous]

I disagree PP. Nannying is a professional career for some of us. Not all nannies are just doing it for the money or to help pay the bills while attending college. Some of us genuinely love what we do and will continue to nanny for the rest of our lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, some of those questions can make you seem less professional, but let's be honest, Nannying isn't a very "professional" job.

This is why nannies are not treated not respect. Nannies themselves don't see nannying as a professional career.

I think I may have written that poorly. My full statement was: "Nannying isn't a very "professional" job. Do I consider and try my best to present myself as a professional nanny? Yes, of course! But this is a very personal and intimate job" What I mean is that it's very different then a professional office job. I do consider this my profession though and most families I have worked for have treated me with a lot of respect. The one family that didn't I left soon after.

[Anonymous]

Some nannies are professional, some are not. Odd how also some school teachers are considered professional, some are not.

[Anonymous]

Professionalism isn't just about whether you love what you do or want to continue it. Its about how you present yourself in your work environment and to your employers. There is far too much rationalization for doing things that are unprofessional. It doesn't matter that you are not going into an office. It doesn't matter if your friend got to do it. It doesn't matter whether a checked out SAHM would do it. Whenever you start rationalizing something which is for your own entertainment and think that you will not hurt your reputation, you are fooling yourself. You can't have it both ways but many young nannies fail to see this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Professionalism isn't just about whether you love what you do or want to continue it. Its about how you present yourself in your work environment and to your employers. There is far too much rationalization for doing things that are unprofessional. It doesn't matter that you are not going into an office. It doesn't matter if your friend got to do it. It doesn't matter whether a checked out SAHM would do it. Whenever you start rationalizing something which is for your own entertainment and think that you will not hurt your reputation, you are fooling yourself. You can't have it both ways but many young nannies fail to see this.

I'm 13:56 and I fully agree with you 100%. I think I'm just lacking the word to describe what I meant when I used the term "professional job". Like I said before, I do consider myself a professional. I was talking more about the image of a "professional job" (getting all dressed up, altering your personality, and having clear(er) expectations on how to go about your job). My fiance works in this type of environment and there is a drastic difference to how we both go about fulfilling our roles at work. The day he accepted the position he knew how to act and how to handle almost every situation that would come up, whereas I use my common sense and experience to deal with what comes up.

My main point in my first post was that it's harder at times to know what to do in certain situations because of how personal and this job can be. What may be fine with one MB is a firing offence to another. So while I fully agree that :::some::: nannies need to strive to better present themselves as a "professional nanny", I also understand where nannies just starting out may have questions that the answers seem obvious to the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm 13:56 and I fully agree with you 100%. I think I'm just lacking the word to describe what I meant when I used the term "professional job". Like I said before, I do consider myself a professional. I was talking more about the image of a "professional job" (getting all dressed up, altering your personality, and having clear(er) expectations on how to go about your job). My fiance works in this type of environment and there is a drastic difference to how we both go about fulfilling our roles at work. The day he accepted the position he knew how to act and how to handle almost every situation that would come up, whereas I use my common sense and experience to deal with what comes up.

My main point in my first post was that it's harder at times to know what to do in certain situations because of how personal and this job can be. What may be fine with one MB is a firing offence to another. So while I fully agree that :::some::: nannies need to strive to better present themselves as a "professional nanny", I also understand where nannies just starting out may have questions that the answers seem obvious to the rest of us.

I completely agree! I wish everyone would respond this maturely. If a questions seems obviously wrong to some people there is no need to saying, "Wow you're a terrible nanny" or anything like that. It's fine to respond "Well I wouldn't lay out while watching kids swim/have people over/do laundry at my employer's house because of a), b), or c). There's no need to be rude or make the OPs of those threads feel like terrible nannies for simply asking a question.

[Anonymous]

Are you a nanny or MB/DB, OP?

[Anonymous]

My main point in my first post was that it's harder at times to know what to do in certain situations because of how personal and this job can be. What may be fine with one MB is a firing offence to another.

The problem is that many MB's do see nannies as overpaid babysitters. They may "say" they don't mind but it changes or just reinforces their view of of you as someone unprofessional who is paid more than they should be making.