Diva Nanny Article

[Anonymous]

Being a good caregiver is a gift. Few people have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, but what parent would hire an "unskilled" person to have full solo responsibility for your baby, while you're away?
That's insane.

Being a childcare provider is not a skilled job. Being a bartender is not a skilled job, but some are excellent at it and some are horrible.

There is not "skill" in a job that does not require a degree or some level of unique aptitude. Someone with a 6th grade education can be an excellent nanny and someone with a PHD could make a horrible nanny. It's a job of personality and temperament. All parents can hope is that they find that magic person with the perfect combo of the two.

A good nanny needs a lot more than personality and temperament. There's actually a huge amount of required skills, even if the US Government disagrees.

In Europe, child care is much more valued than here. I think that is a key component why they have better maternity leave. If you believe almost anyone can do as good of a job as the parents, what do you expect?

How many years of nannies have you had? And how many nannies?

What "skills" does a nanny need?

-patience
-organization
-basic literacy and ability to help with homework up to age 10.
-driving
-cpr
-punctuality
-basic meal prep
-knowledge of current child safety
-good decision making skills

Not exactly skilled in the professional sense. Thousands of workers perform similar functions at daycare centers. Success is dependent on personality and temperment. You cannot "learn" to be good with children, not can you really learn how to be an early riser.

Your second sentence is 100% correct.
Hence, The Hell of American Daycare.

Your understanding of early childhood development is lacking, to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, but what parent would hire an "unskilled" person to have full solo responsibility for your baby, while you're away?
That's insane.

Being a childcare provider is not a skilled job. Being a bartender is not a skilled job, but some are excellent at it and some are horrible.

There is not "skill" in a job that does not require a degree or some level of unique aptitude. Someone with a 6th grade education can be an excellent nanny and someone with a PHD could make a horrible nanny. It's a job of personality and temperament. All parents can hope is that they find that magic person with the perfect combo of the two.

A good nanny needs a lot more than personality and temperament. There's actually a huge amount of required skills, even if the US Government disagrees.

In Europe, child care is much more valued than here. I think that is a key component why they have better maternity leave. If you believe almost anyone can do as good of a job as the parents, what do you expect?

How many years of nannies have you had? And how many nannies?

What "skills" does a nanny need?

-patience
-organization
-basic literacy and ability to help with homework up to age 10.
-driving
-cpr
-punctuality
-basic meal prep
-knowledge of current child safety
-good decision making skills

Not exactly skilled in the professional sense. Thousands of workers perform similar functions at daycare centers. Success is dependent on personality and temperment. You cannot "learn" to be good with children, not can you really learn how to be an early riser.

Your second sentence is 100% correct.
Hence, The Hell of American Daycare.

Your understanding of early childhood development is lacking, to say the least.

Why is American daycare "hell"? I gotta hear this one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, but what parent would hire an "unskilled" person to have full solo responsibility for your baby, while you're away?
That's insane.

Being a childcare provider is not a skilled job. Being a bartender is not a skilled job, but some are excellent at it and some are horrible.

There is not "skill" in a job that does not require a degree or some level of unique aptitude. Someone with a 6th grade education can be an excellent nanny and someone with a PHD could make a horrible nanny. It's a job of personality and temperament. All parents can hope is that they find that magic person with the perfect combo of the two.

A good nanny needs a lot more than personality and temperament. There's actually a huge amount of required skills, even if the US Government disagrees.

In Europe, child care is much more valued than here. I think that is a key component why they have better maternity leave. If you believe almost anyone can do as good of a job as the parents, what do you expect?

How many years of nannies have you had? And how many nannies?

What "skills" does a nanny need?

-patience
-organization
-basic literacy and ability to help with homework up to age 10.
-driving
-cpr
-punctuality
-basic meal prep
-knowledge of current child safety
-good decision making skills

Not exactly skilled in the professional sense. Thousands of workers perform similar functions at daycare centers. Success is dependent on personality and temperment. You cannot "learn" to be good with children, not can you really learn how to be an early riser.

Your second sentence is 100% correct.
Hence, The Hell of American Daycare.

Your understanding of early childhood development is lacking, to say the least.

Why is American daycare "hell"? I gotta hear this one!

My, you're REALLY in the dark. Google The Hell of American Daycare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, but what parent would hire an "unskilled" person to have full solo responsibility for your baby, while you're away?
That's insane.

Being a childcare provider is not a skilled job. Being a bartender is not a skilled job, but some are excellent at it and some are horrible.

There is not "skill" in a job that does not require a degree or some level of unique aptitude. Someone with a 6th grade education can be an excellent nanny and someone with a PHD could make a horrible nanny. It's a job of personality and temperament. All parents can hope is that they find that magic person with the perfect combo of the two.

A good nanny needs a lot more than personality and temperament. There's actually a huge amount of required skills, even if the US Government disagrees.

In Europe, child care is much more valued than here. I think that is a key component why they have better maternity leave. If you believe almost anyone can do as good of a job as the parents, what do you expect?

How many years of nannies have you had? And how many nannies?

What "skills" does a nanny need?

-patience
-organization
-basic literacy and ability to help with homework up to age 10.
-driving
-cpr
-punctuality
-basic meal prep
-knowledge of current child safety
-good decision making skills

Not exactly skilled in the professional sense. Thousands of workers perform similar functions at daycare centers. Success is dependent on personality and temperment. You cannot "learn" to be good with children, not can you really learn how to be an early riser.

Your second sentence is 100% correct.
Hence, The Hell of American Daycare.

Your understanding of early childhood development is lacking, to say the least.

Why is American daycare "hell"? I gotta hear this one!

My, you're REALLY in the dark. Google The Hell of American Daycare.

Oh my bad. I don't get my info from google searches. I've worked as a nanny, as a daycare worker, as a daycare director, and then as a regional director.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, but what parent would hire an "unskilled" person to have full solo responsibility for your baby, while you're away?
That's insane.

Being a childcare provider is not a skilled job. Being a bartender is not a skilled job, but some are excellent at it and some are horrible.

There is not "skill" in a job that does not require a degree or some level of unique aptitude. Someone with a 6th grade education can be an excellent nanny and someone with a PHD could make a horrible nanny. It's a job of personality and temperament. All parents can hope is that they find that magic person with the perfect combo of the two.

A good nanny needs a lot more than personality and temperament. There's actually a huge amount of required skills, even if the US Government disagrees.

In Europe, child care is much more valued than here. I think that is a key component why they have better maternity leave. If you believe almost anyone can do as good of a job as the parents, what do you expect?

How many years of nannies have you had? And how many nannies?

What "skills" does a nanny need?

-patience
-organization
-basic literacy and ability to help with homework up to age 10.
-driving
-cpr
-punctuality
-basic meal prep
-knowledge of current child safety
-good decision making skills

Not exactly skilled in the professional sense. Thousands of workers perform similar functions at daycare centers. Success is dependent on personality and temperment. You cannot "learn" to be good with children, not can you really learn how to be an early riser.

Your second sentence is 100% correct.
Hence, The Hell of American Daycare.

Your understanding of early childhood development is lacking, to say the least.

Why is American daycare "hell"? I gotta hear this one!

My, you're REALLY in the dark. Google The Hell of American Daycare.

Oh my bad. I don't get my info from google searches. I've worked as a nanny, as a daycare worker, as a daycare director, and then as a regional director.

"The Hell of American Daycare" did not originate on Google, you twit. But that's where you can find it. Or you may go to the library if you prefer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was struck by the average hourly rate - it seemed so low!

And only 15% are paid on the books? The market must just be nuts up there.

I don't think it's much more than 15% here. But it's simply impossible to know what percentage of domestic workers are off the books. When was the last time any nanny employer ever got fined? It's a non-issue for most nanny employers, unless they're very wealthy and expect to be audited. Most parents want so-called affordable childcare and that's the end of that. Cheap is what they want, not all, but most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen this NY Post article about entitled Diva Nannies?

I am sure the entitlement is much higher in NY than in DC. Have you had a nanny that was so demanding of perks in our area?

http://nypost.com/2015/04/08/escalades-hamptons-homes-and-much-more-the-rise-of-the-diva-nanny/

I hope it trickles down to this area and I am not a nanny. Taking care of children is hard work and dealing with parents, if DCUM is an example, is almost impossible with their damands and expectations.

[Anonymous]

American daycare is he'll because the pay is so low. Also, too many some, today choose to have children WITHOUT a committed partner. It takes two incomes so stop having kids you cannot afford or get married before you have kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was struck by the average hourly rate - it seemed so low!

And only 15% are paid on the books? The market must just be nuts up there.

Struck? Totally normal and inline.

I guess so, but I thought NYC would be higher than DC. I would have expected the average to be $18 or something. It seems like we're always hearing here (DCUM) about how much higher the rates are there, but this article kind of gives the lie to that (though the perks are certainly different!)

This article reports $17/hr for NYC and several articles for DC, and heads of nanny placement firms, cite $15-20/hr for our area, so that's on par. Honestly, I find rents in DC much higher than I did in NYC, and food's more expensive here too, so I'm not surprised that the wages are approx the same. The extra perks are interesting though. Anyone know how much a family gym membership goes for in NYC these days? Is it just like an extra $100/month to add another household member to that? If so, seems like a cost-effective way to plus up the overall compensation package.

exactly. $17/hr plus other things to minimize the family's and nanny's taxes. Plus more nannies there are looking for 5-10 year positions not flipping around every 2 years. so they get the 3% annual raise plus other items that don't go through taxes. No dummies there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do single adults in the d.c. area pay their bills on $15 an hour without government assistance. Serious question. I am a nanny. I am able to put a tiny bit away a month. But I don't have anything saved for retirement. I am 30. I make $900 pre tax a week

The problem is, unskilled jobs don't pay well. Anything that does not involve getting a degree is not going to pay well, unless you luck out with a white collar office job (which happens) by being at the right place, at the right time, impressing the right people. I have someone that works for me in an entry level position and make 32K/yr which is well under a nanny wage. He lives with his girlfriend and they split the rent of a 1BR apt. However, he has a college degree and this is just the first stop in his career. A nanny has a first stop over and over again.

How does anyone make it work? Retail and food service employees are everywhere and they make less than $15/hr.

you live outside the beltway, like lots of nannies, people and families do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most parents do. It's the fashionable thing to do, especially in NY.

Well, if most parents would just hire skilled domestic labor, instead of unskilled, this forum might not be such a wild success.

funny enough, dcum nanny IS pretty domestic. and only in English. so now MB and DB know to avoid those who post emails well in english, they might be the crazy dcum "nannies."