How important is it to you to have a smart nanny?

[Anonymous]

Ugh. "Silence project" should be science project. Though if my kid was assigned a silence project I'd ask her to work on it, diligently, EVERY DAY.

[Anonymous]

I can see how that would be frustrating.
I am a nanny. I am nowhere near a 130 IQ or an advanced degree.


But I think even with my average IQ I could manage that stuff that's just day to day caring for kids basic common sense.


Maybe she lacks confidence?

I know when I was younger I often knew in my head the thing to do, but was hesitant to act. Took me time to just trust myself.

[Anonymous]

New poster, who randomly came across thus post.

We have an amazing full-time nanny who's super smart and has been with us over 4 years. Lots of common sense. Ability to figure things out. Only has a high school degree.

We had a regular weekend nanny for about two years. She was a full time nanny with the temp division of a reputable agency. Had a college degree. Was warm. Caring. Lovely. Good with the kids. But not smart. At first I thought it didn't matter. But it did.

She couldn't figure out how to assemble sippy cups, so I had to fill them up before she came. Each time, since instructions were useless. She couldn't figure out how to unlock the stroller, so the kids never made it to the playground on a beautiful day. Couldn't figure out that the two year old needed to be lifted onto the potty. That the pieces of food needed to be precut. How to work our front door lock, let alone security system (even with a FOB). Thus, I never trusted her with basic tasks, like administering antibiotics.

Sweet, and lovely and warm. But her lack of intelligence started to interfere with the quality of care, and the degree to which I was being helped/saved time.

So, yes, intelligence definitely matters. But there's not always a correlation with education levels.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny is extremely intelligent. I wouldn't be surprised if she had near genius oral recall (she can repeat a conversation word-for-word). We actually didn't realize how important having an intelligent nanny was when we hired her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure I could never get away with this, but oh how I'd love I require an IQ of 130 or above for nanny candidates (yes, I get that this is ridiculous).

I just want someone who is smart - actually intelligent, quick-witted, able to problem solve independently, and find creative solutions. We've had some lovely nannies over the past eight years - bright, good with the kids, great at making the right call - but the majority of candidates (and sadly, some of our shorter term nannies) just don't seem that bright. Very warm, very loving, very capable of following directions, but needing EVERY SINGLE RULE outlined for them for every variation on a routine. Where are the critical thinking skills? Where is the ability to analyze the situation, adapt, and apply what you already know in order to reach a conclusion?

I realize I'll get flamed for this post. So be it. Just wondering if there are other parents out there who find themselves wishing for the same.

(For what it's worth, our smartest nanny was a high school grad with no further education. Brilliant young woman and just a gem. Hated school cause she disagreed so much with her professors that she couldn't stand biting her tongue and instead decided to pursue her own path. Super smart, super awesome nanny...who moved four hours away.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how people on this board think no one "smart" would be a nanny.

I'm a nanny with a high IQ. I also have a Master's Degree with a high GPA to go along with that fancy piece of paper I've worked in my high stress field and came back to nannying because I like it better and am happy overall.

My employers highly value education and were looking specifically for someone with at least a college degree. In addition, they wanted someone who was able to think on their feet and not need to be micromanaged. It's a great fit for both of us, so I'm very happy here.

FWIW, I have interviewed for a couple of nanny jobs that asked for my IQ score, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA and a writing sample. I've also seen quite a few ads that were looking for nanny who had an Ivy League Education and various other things, so you are not alone in wanting a intelligent nanny.

All that education and bragging, yet you still don't know proper grammar?

I think so too...

[Anonymous]

In my years of experience as nanny I have to say I can see very good nannies out there,but I can see lots junk nannies too,for example,always I get compliment for all the families member and friends when they come to visit the baby,I am the most content nanny on this planet.

[Anonymous]

Having a nanny who was intelligent was important to us as well. And we found her - I wouldn't doubt that her IQ is at or near the genius level. She is an older woman (59) who had another career before becoming a nanny and graduated from a better college than I did. She has a great pension waiting for her from her "other life" when she decides to retire and truly loves being a nanny. She has more energy than I do, too!

However, I doubt there are many nannies out there like her. We just got damn lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, can you be more specific? Perhaps provide us some examples of some things these nannies did that showed their lack of intelligence??

Because as you must know, intelligence is a very subjective term in itself.

OP here. It's hard to give specific examples; it's more a sense of seeing good judgement and thinking skills in action.

Homework: say it's Monday. If there is a silence project due at the end of the week and a math worksheet due tomorrow, which would you do first? If you know one kid in the family was sick two days ago, and now the other kid is really out of sorts, what might you be thinking about? If a kid has a sport that night should you plan to feed her dinner in advance, if you know bedtime is right after the practice ends? These aren't good examples as it's really hard to come up with day to day examples of when it's helpful to be able to apply some critical thinking; I think part of it is just the ability to GET it, figure it out, learn from the last time you asked, and put two and two together.

Our nanny is nice. She's just not that smart, and I find it exhausting.

My nanny would do the right thing in all these scenarios and she didn't go to college. She did, however raise 5 kids of her own, helped raise her younger brothers and sisters, and has a great deal of common sense. She's also wonderful to my little boy and a kind person. Those are the qualities that I value most. I prefer to read and do homework with my kids myself and my spouse and I always make time for that.

To the $45/hour genius nanny-- BS!

[Anonymous]

I have never taken an IQ test, but I suspect that I would do very well. I had a 1260 SAT and a 32 ACT. I managed to get A's in most of my classes through high school and college without ever really applying myself. If I had had a different type of personality, I probably could have done something pretty impressive career wise. Instead, I dropped out of college halfway through my senior year, because I realized that neither of the majors I was currently pursuing were what I wanted to do with my life. I took some time off and nannied just to give myself a break from academia, and realized that I love this job and want to do it as long as I am physically able. I am constantly reading and researching about child development, taking classes and lectures, etc.

On paper, I look like I don't know much of anything.

I have had multiple employers who are themselves highly educated and who completely devalue any benefit that could possibly come from my years of experience or innate intuition. I had an employer whose brother was a doctor (a plastic surgeon), and when her toddler was sick and could not stop vomiting, she would try to give him a big glass of juice every time he vomited because her Brother had told her that would keep him hydrated. I stated that in my experience it was better to wait at least 20 minutes after a child had vomited, and start with only a tablespoon at a time of liquid. She let her child vomit for hours before she finally agreed to try my approach, and he was miraculously able to keep liquids down that way.

The reality is that there is no way of knowing whether your nanny is a) actually just dumb, b) Smart and passive aggressively refusing to do tasks that she feels are beneath her (this attitude makes my skin crawl, but I know nannies who swear by it--*shudder*), or C) is quite intelligent, but has learned through experience that most families are going to treat her like a moron anyway, and it is often in a nanny's best interest to double and triple check what the parents want done rather than apply actual logic to the situation. Most parents would rather things be done their way than things be done well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've had some lovely nannies over the past eight years - bright...

...but the majority of candidates (and sadly, some of our shorter term nannies) just don't seem that bright.

Which is it, OP? Are your lovely nannies bright or not so bright?

God the nannies posing as MBs are really tiresome.

[Anonymous]

What's not clear in your post is whether the nannies you're frustrated with are actually making a call in the moment that most would find reasonable but you are just very particular, disagree with the call being made since it's not identical to what you would do, and are overall being unreasonable but calling others unintelligent

OR

if you're truly just finding not so bright candidates, no experience, etc. If you're paying well, I suspect the former. If you're paying close to minimum wage and under the table, then probably the later and you deserve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure I could never get away with this, but oh how I'd love I require an IQ of 130 or above for nanny candidates (yes, I get that this is ridiculous).

I just want someone who is smart - actually intelligent, quick-witted, able to problem solve independently, and find creative solutions. We've had some lovely nannies over the past eight years - bright, good with the kids, great at making the right call - but the majority of candidates (and sadly, some of our shorter term nannies) just don't seem that bright. Very warm, very loving, very capable of following directions, but needing EVERY SINGLE RULE outlined for them for every variation on a routine. Where are the critical thinking skills? Where is the ability to analyze the situation, adapt, and apply what you already know in order to reach a conclusion?

I realize I'll get flamed for this post. So be it. Just wondering if there are other parents out there who find themselves wishing for the same.

(For what it's worth, our smartest nanny was a high school grad with no further education. Brilliant young woman and just a gem. Hated school cause she disagreed so much with her professors that she couldn't stand biting her tongue and instead decided to pursue her own path. Super smart, super awesome nanny...who moved four hours away.)

I'm a nanny with a 130 IQ and a college degree. A big part of is job is gauging the parenting and management styles of the parents. Some parents encourage independent decision making and others expect strict adhesion to rules and schedules. In order to get what you want, tell the nanny upfront what your broad expectations are and that you trust her to make decisions re the minutia of daily life. Many nannies have probably had parents come down on them for not doing something the way the parents would have done it, which creates a hesitance to take independent action for fear of reprisal.

[Anonymous]

There's intelligence and then there's just your overall approach the job. If you're a professional, then you try to stay current with your field - when you learn that a particular method has changed, you take note and make it your new default option until told otherwise by your employer. That's the perspective of a professional.

If you see yourself as the grandmotherly type just looking after kids as a hobby, then you default to "this is what worked for my kids" and "this is how I've been doing it for 10-20 years and it's been good enough" when presented with updates to the methodology of your field and you resist, resent, or refuse to adapt.

I think I could handle a nanny who's not incredibly bright, but very loving, for young kids if she saw herself as a professional. I really can't work with the hobby approach to childcare though, regardless of how intelligent the person might be.

[Anonymous]

I have a very high IQ, and the problems that often go along with that. I often over analyze. I am awkward in social situations. I hate to do things wrong and will just not do omething in order to keep from doing it wrong.

I have to work very hard to overcome these obstacles as a nanny.