treating nannies so poorly

[nannydebsays]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Mea culpas for all the typos on original post. No, I'm not being sarcastic and I am not a nanny. I truly do not understand why anyone would take care of someone else's child(ren) for so little money. $20.000/hr is a bit over $40,000/yr. , $32 after taxes. This is not very much to live on in this area. To me, nannying would be a thankless job with no job security, mistreatment, micromanagement, and horrendous job creepage. This is a high stress job , and tney should be paid a lot more.

You aren't a nanny. You don't want to be a nanny because you assume it is a thankless job with no job security, mistreatment, micro management, job creep, and high stress. While any of those are a possibility, there are a possibility in any job. The fact is, most nanny jobs are fairly low stress and paid quite well considering the lack of education and qualifications required.

Exactly. It's a step up (pay-wise) from flipping burgers and white frankly, requires the same level of skill and education.

So to both of you, if you have kids, did you find your childcare by stealing a worker away from McDonald's and hoping for the best? Or did you make an effort to find someone who had a few skills beyond burger flipping?

I mean, you could hire someone off the streets and hope they have both the skills and sense to keep your kids alive 5 days a week, or you could extend your vision a bit and seek out someone who can do more than that. Someone who, shockingly, might know way more about children and their care than you do!

[Anonymous]

I'm the first PP you're quoting, nannydeb. Also, I did not, and would not, compare nannying to working at McDonalds.

My point was that the OP, who is not a nanny and would never want to be a nanny, is making a lot of negative assumptions about being a nanny that are insulting to both nannies and MBs. All of her negatives, individually, can be found in any job. Very few nanny jobs have all these negatives collectively. Nannying, by and large, is a good field that one can enter without a lot of required education. It pays well when compared to other jobs that don't require a lot of education. Those are the facts.

That said, of course I'm looking for someone with particular skills and attributes and I am willing to pay for them. I do. We have an amazing nanny and we pay her based on a number of factors that make her a great fit for our family.

That said, those factors are not necessarily quantifiable and that is something that works against nannies hoping for higher rates simply because they think they are great nannies. This is the nonstarter argument against market rates. It gets boring that nannies don't realize that simply saying you are exceptional doesn't make it so. There are so many nannies, some illegal, that drive down average rates. Rather than bitching about it, nannies here should be organizing to demand employers pay legally, provide adequate benefits, and include quantifiable measures of excellence to show that they are exceptional. This can change the market.

Nannying may be an an easy field to enter, but it shouldn't be an easy place to stay as a career nanny.

[Anonymous]

I hate to be the "Spelling Police"...But I don't comprehend much of what you just said.