Parents only offering low rates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The going rate for an experienced caregiver is $30 hourly plus 2 week vacation paid and most holidays paid as well. We give stipend towards health insurance. Cost of living is high in the DMV, so I don’t see how a person can live on a $20 hourly.

Roughly $62,000 a year costing a family $78,000 in childcare costs. Just putting it into annual costs at 40 hours a week.
$20/hour is $42,000/year. Costing a family $52,000 a year in childcare costs.

I have no opinion on whether a family or a person can live on $42,000 a year but I can imagine it would be very difficult for a middle class family to afford 78k in childcare costs.

It never occured to me that a "middle class family" would have a nanny. I always thought nannies were for very high income folks.

I think the real issue is that when you're saying a family would spend $78K for 40 hours of care per week (so no overtime), that's surpassing one parent's take-home salary once you factor in yearly raises, bonuses, and health insurance, you're thinking the lower paid spouse brings home around $200K. If you're thinking both parents are making $250K+, then the costs increase exponentially because you need at least 50 hours of childcare and neither of you are spending much time with your kids. If you're limiting to 40 hours of childcare, one parent is already working a flex schedule/not making more than $200K.

There are no good solutions here. But at the end of the day, $30/hour is a VERY high hourly rate for someone without a degree or with a degree in ECE, and it follows that families willing to pay that would expect a very professional nanny. Judging by the pushback on the 'no phones' thread, it's no surprise to me that so many working moms leave the workforce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The going rate for an experienced caregiver is $30 hourly plus 2 week vacation paid and most holidays paid as well. We give stipend towards health insurance. Cost of living is high in the DMV, so I don’t see how a person can live on a $20 hourly.

Roughly $62,000 a year costing a family $78,000 in childcare costs. Just putting it into annual costs at 40 hours a week.
$20/hour is $42,000/year. Costing a family $52,000 a year in childcare costs.

I have no opinion on whether a family or a person can live on $42,000 a year but I can imagine it would be very difficult for a middle class family to afford 78k in childcare costs.

It never occured to me that a "middle class family" would have a nanny. I always thought nannies were for very high income folks.

I think the real issue is that when you're saying a family would spend $78K for 40 hours of care per week (so no overtime), that's surpassing one parent's take-home salary once you factor in yearly raises, bonuses, and health insurance, you're thinking the lower paid spouse brings home around $200K. If you're thinking both parents are making $250K+, then the costs increase exponentially because you need at least 50 hours of childcare and neither of you are spending much time with your kids. If you're limiting to 40 hours of childcare, one parent is already working a flex schedule/not making more than $200K.

There are no good solutions here. But at the end of the day, $30/hour is a VERY high hourly rate for someone without a degree or with a degree in ECE, and it follows that families willing to pay that would expect a very professional nanny. Judging by the pushback on the 'no phones' thread, it's no surprise to me that so many working moms leave the workforce.

$30/hour is an extremely high hourly wage for someone without a college education. How many HHI of 300k+ families are out there in this area? That's a smaller population than the middle class who are having children and need childcare. If you are able to afford a nanny, you will have your pick at $30/hour and I would assume you would go with someone with experience and a degree.

The idea that $15-20/hour for a career field which is still considered unskilled labor because it does not require a degree to enter the career field is a fair wage. If experienced nannies don't want to work for so little, fair enough, the competition is probably pretty fierce when you are going after a job in the $30/hour range -- you definitely shouldn't be on your phone!

[Anonymous]

Unskilled labor deserving minimum wage? Really? You think that lowly about the person who is raising your child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unskilled labor deserving minimum wage? Really? You think that lowly about the person who is raising your child?

Your wage is not how someone feels about you. Your wage is your salary. Your skill level is not how someone feels about you. It's what you have been taught/educated/shown mastery of.

Childcare is an emotional relationship with someone who is taking care of your children. The fact it is emotional doesn't change the actual facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unskilled labor deserving minimum wage? Really? You think that lowly about the person who is raising your child?

Your wage is not how someone feels about you. Your wage is your salary. Your skill level is not how someone feels about you. It's what you have been taught/educated/shown mastery of.

Childcare is an emotional relationship with someone who is taking care of your children. The fact it is emotional doesn't change the actual facts.

Right. Minimum wage minimum emotions.

[Anonymous]

Why do people keep bringing up being on their phones? A professional nanny will not be on their phone all day while the children are awake. They might perhaps have a phone conversation when pushing a baby in a stroller while out on a walk, and hearing you talk is good for them. Otherwise, a professional nanny will only be on their phone during naps or for brief moments during the day do check in with parents, take pictures for parents, use their phone for music, buy tickets for the zoo, log baby's info in a baby app, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unskilled labor deserving minimum wage? Really? You think that lowly about the person who is raising your child?

Your wage is not how someone feels about you. Your wage is your salary. Your skill level is not how someone feels about you. It's what you have been taught/educated/shown mastery of.

Childcare is an emotional relationship with someone who is taking care of your children. The fact it is emotional doesn't change the actual facts.

Skilled labor doesn't need to come from a classroom. You can learn skills while on the job and on your own using this great resource called the internet. A nanny will prove her skills on the job and her references will be able to tell the next family that she does know all if this. It's outdated thinking that you need college for certain roles where on the job experience and learning is just a much higher value. You also can't seem to grasp exactly what a nanny does, as it's so much more than what a parent does with their child. Just the fact that so few people can even work with kids with skill and enjoy it for kids that aren't their own. Even though I don't have any ECE credits/degree, I've shown my "mastery of" this industry and so according to your words above, I have a high skill level despite no formal education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The going rate for an experienced caregiver is $30 hourly plus 2 week vacation paid and most holidays paid as well. We give stipend towards health insurance. Cost of living is high in the DMV, so I don’t see how a person can live on a $20 hourly.

Roughly $62,000 a year costing a family $78,000 in childcare costs. Just putting it into annual costs at 40 hours a week.
$20/hour is $42,000/year. Costing a family $52,000 a year in childcare costs.

I have no opinion on whether a family or a person can live on $42,000 a year but I can imagine it would be very difficult for a middle class family to afford 78k in childcare costs.

It never occured to me that a "middle class family" would have a nanny. I always thought nannies were for very high income folks.

This. This is why this board is full of people normalizing $30/hour as a reasonable rate for a nanny taking care of 1 child. Yes, middle class families have nannies. No, they're not just for the very high income folks. And no, sorry, there aren't enough very high income folks in this area to employ every nanny at $30/hour. If that's who you want to work for, be very clear in your interview. But this probably means you'll be in the "search" phase for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The going rate for an experienced caregiver is $30 hourly plus 2 week vacation paid and most holidays paid as well. We give stipend towards health insurance. Cost of living is high in the DMV, so I don’t see how a person can live on a $20 hourly.

Roughly $62,000 a year costing a family $78,000 in childcare costs. Just putting it into annual costs at 40 hours a week.
$20/hour is $42,000/year. Costing a family $52,000 a year in childcare costs.

I have no opinion on whether a family or a person can live on $42,000 a year but I can imagine it would be very difficult for a middle class family to afford 78k in childcare costs.

It never occured to me that a "middle class family" would have a nanny. I always thought nannies were for very high income folks.

This. This is why this board is full of people normalizing $30/hour as a reasonable rate for a nanny taking care of 1 child. Yes, middle class families have nannies. No, they're not just for the very high income folks. And no, sorry, there aren't enough very high income folks in this area to employ every nanny at $30/hour. If that's who you want to work for, be very clear in your interview. But this probably means you'll be in the "search" phase for a while.

That's not true. This forum is not full of everyone saying normal wage is $30 per child. Read well.all comments. Those rates are for siblings or nanny shares. So don't go on top and trying to say that everyone is only looking for Jobs when they will get paid $30 per child.

[Anonymous]

Have your stopped to think about how much someone needs to make give taxes, etc. to pay someone $30 an hour?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people keep bringing up being on their phones? A professional nanny will not be on their phone all day while the children are awake. They might perhaps have a phone conversation when pushing a baby in a stroller while out on a walk, and hearing you talk is good for them. Otherwise, a professional nanny will only be on their phone during naps or for brief moments during the day do check in with parents, take pictures for parents, use their phone for music, buy tickets for the zoo, log baby's info in a baby app, etc.

But we have an Alexa in every room for music, are happy to handle tickets for you upon request, and prefer a handwritten log. Both parents WFH so check-ins can be done if we want at regularly scheduled intervals. I don’t need pictures of my kid - in fact, I prefer not to receive them - and I don’t pay you to chat while on a stroll. It’s been researched and narrating your movements and what you see directly to my child is more beneficial than hearing you talk.

Finally, at $30/hour, aside from your legally mandated break (half hour) during naps, you should be doing child related chores and preparing activities for them to do, not sitting on your phone. What you describe is worth less than $25/hour to me. And that’s fine but let’s not act like any of the above results in minimal phone use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's true. Same here. Other important thing beside the low rates $; Some families asking: Speak another language and teach their children for free. Nanny own a car and use it for work; to drive their children. (What about the wear and tear beside the gas?) And No only asking light-housekeeping related to their kids, which is normal and tasks for the Nanny. Even worse, asking now do the Whole family laundry, family cooking, clean the kitchen, vacuum the house? I think they should know a little more about what is the difference between a Nanny and a Housekeeper position. This is shocking and very disappointing. A professional Nanny won't take a position like that. Sorry parents. With this a simple "Next".

There is no such thing, except in England as a professional nanny. You are worth what someone is willing to pay.

Actually PP, respectfully, you may be mistaken. Just because England is known for having a culture that recognizes and respects the nanny field (which sadly many people here don't), does not mean actual professional nannies does not exist. There are people who actually do this whole heartedly not only for a living but as their career. There are people who train in Nanny training schools and some who even train as a governess/nanny and early childhood development. They constantly take courses to qualify themselves for the job and they tend to attract a specific market. They are also paid fairly and accordingly they are very much working here in the DMV and paid accordingly. The problem is many don't know the difference between a babysitter and nanny as well as the difference between someone working in the nanny field temporarily (either due to college, career switching or other reasons) and someone who has chosen this field.

These aren't people just watching people's children as a hobby or because they have nothing better to do..if that were the case, then I doubt parents would be willing to entrust their children's lives to someone who isn't doing anything relevant enough.Professional nannies exist here...they are people who constantly work to perfect their craft, carry lots of experience under their belt, they can walk into a family system on day 1 and when invited to provide solutions, they come up with remedies that parents may have been struggling with. They are gifted with child development and go out of their way to be intentional about what parents and children need- without overstepping boundaries or undermining parents. That takes skills that you build over the years. Just because someone is not willing to pay a certain amount doesn't mean that person sets the going rate. Also what people are willing to pay in this area is much higher than what a lot of people having been trying to offer experienced/professional nannies and claiming that it is what people are willing to pay.

Also, professional nannies exist around the world as well.

Plenty of organizations are out there training and keeping nannies committed to their professional career.

https://www.usnanny.org/standards/

https://www.thenannyleague.com/#:~:text=Full%2DTime%20Nannies%20are%20professionals,and%20all%20around%20family%20support.&text=Depending%20on%20the%20job%2C%20number,30%2Fhr%20gross%20and%20up.

I think the point is that anyone can call themselves a 'nanny'. Unless you have a degree, a certification, experience or training, you cannot expect to make above $20/hr as a nanny.

This forum is very active with a vocal minority that believes a nanny should be paid $25/hr and higher simply because rich people employ nannies. That is flawed thinking.

You are only going to get paid what someone is willing to pay you. When teachers with degrees are paid $22/hr and are degreed and certified, I'm not sure why anyone would scoff at a family paying $20/hr for a non-degreed nanny.

And yes, the pool of "nannies" is full of people who are working as nannies between jobs, before their careers or simply because they haven't figured out what they are qualified to do yet. If you want your career field to be taken seriously as professionals, stop yelling at parents to pay more and start chastising "nannies" who are calling themselves "nannies" when they are glorified babysitters. Start a national certification to set standards for a "nanny" to be called a "nanny".
The pay is a direct reflection of a family's ability to hire someone at that rate. You can find a nanny for $15/hr in this area. You 100% can. Whether a parent will be happy or not is a different story. You can tear a person apart on facebook or here for offering $15/hr and asking for housekeeping services too, but there is definitely a candidate who will accept it. When wages have been stagnant for most other career fields over the last 10 years, not many families can afford much more.
I paid $18/hr for a nanny with 10 years experience last summer in the suburbs for 3 kids. She was great. If you have a good enough gig to make the whole package work, the hourly rate is just part of the entire deal.

No. You can find a long term BABYSITTER for $15 (maybe, until they leave the moment they get a job paying $15.50). You bleating that people can get a competent nanny for $15 in this market in 2022 is abjectly laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The going rate for an experienced caregiver is $30 hourly plus 2 week vacation paid and most holidays paid as well. We give stipend towards health insurance. Cost of living is high in the DMV, so I don’t see how a person can live on a $20 hourly.

Roughly $62,000 a year costing a family $78,000 in childcare costs. Just putting it into annual costs at 40 hours a week.
$20/hour is $42,000/year. Costing a family $52,000 a year in childcare costs.

I have no opinion on whether a family or a person can live on $42,000 a year but I can imagine it would be very difficult for a middle class family to afford 78k in childcare costs.

Middle class families are not entitled to private nannies. That’s what on-site group care is for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people keep bringing up being on their phones? A professional nanny will not be on their phone all day while the children are awake. They might perhaps have a phone conversation when pushing a baby in a stroller while out on a walk, and hearing you talk is good for them. Otherwise, a professional nanny will only be on their phone during naps or for brief moments during the day do check in with parents, take pictures for parents, use their phone for music, buy tickets for the zoo, log baby's info in a baby app, etc.

But we have an Alexa in every room for music, are happy to handle tickets for you upon request, and prefer a handwritten log. Both parents WFH so check-ins can be done if we want at regularly scheduled intervals. I don’t need pictures of my kid - in fact, I prefer not to receive them - and I don’t pay you to chat while on a stroll. It’s been researched and narrating your movements and what you see directly to my child is more beneficial than hearing you talk.

Finally, at $30/hour, aside from your legally mandated break (half hour) during naps, you should be doing child related chores and preparing activities for them to do, not sitting on your phone. What you describe is worth less than $25/hour to me. And that’s fine but let’s not act like any of the above results in minimal phone use.

YOU have an Alexa in every room perhaps, not everyone does.

Why do you need to buy tickets for me when it takes a minute to buy them myself? I'd still need to get a message from you with the info and then check my phone to use the ticket.

Many first time parents want photos/videos of their babies, I've been requested to do just so from multiple families and warn them that I personally don't normally take that many unless it's something special.

Most families prefer an app log that they can check back on and refer to, plus easily add to themselves.

Many parents like to check-in through messages during the day, some don't even have anything to do with the baby. Like every single message I get each day is from NP and it's rude to not respond to your employer.

I personally hate talking on the phone but I wouldn't do that every day regardless. An occasional phone call is not inappropriate, I hear non-nannies take personal calls during work hours all the time. Calling places that need to be called only during work hours and can't be done during nap time (if overlapping with traditional lunch breaks), sometimes it just has to be done. I personally do talk ALL day long to/with my NK no matter their age.

Nannies don't have legally mandated breaks. My child related chores don't take that long, it's a few minutes for little things and I do that immediately and can have the rest of nap time to spend on my phone if I choose. It doesn't really take long to "prep activities" for kids, if you are even doing scheduled indoor activities.

Other than nap time use, I often only spend perhaps 5 minutes out of 8 hours actively using my phone and it's only for work purposes.

Quality care comes with a higher price. If you are only spending the bare minimum, you have a much higher chance of getting those nannies that are ALWAYS on their phone, that go to playgrounds to meet up with their nanny friends and hang out and don't actually play with the kids while there. Like I've seen nannies who put down their blankets and sit and the kids wander around that blanket and a few feet away and when they try to go climb on a play structure, they get called back to the blanket. Occasionally one might take a NK or 2 to the swings for 5 minutes, then guess what? More blanket time! For a 16+ month old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It never occured to me that a "middle class family" would have a nanny. I always thought nannies were for very high income folks.

I think the real issue is that when you're saying a family would spend $78K for 40 hours of care per week (so no overtime), that's surpassing one parent's take-home salary once you factor in yearly raises, bonuses, and health insurance, you're thinking the lower paid spouse brings home around $200K. If you're thinking both parents are making $250K+, then the costs increase exponentially because you need at least 50 hours of childcare and neither of you are spending much time with your kids. If you're limiting to 40 hours of childcare, one parent is already working a flex schedule/not making more than $200K.

I think many families are misclassifying their actual social class levels. If you have even just 1 parent earning $200K+, then you are actually well beyond the middle class range. I'd hesitate to say $250K is still upper-middle class still. If you have 2 adults each earning $200K+, then you are fully upper class. You might not be high net worth, but you definitely cannot say you are anywhere near middle class. Middle class for Virginia and Maryland is from ~$33K/39K up to $156K/178K. DC being a higher COL, I'd say $45K-200K would be a fair estimate.

If you are earning under $200K for your HHI, then a nanny is not meant to be a reasonable childcare option for you unless you choose to do a share or plan on tightening your budget in other areas to give the extra money to childcare. There are definitely some families that do so, they see it as investing in their children and want the best for them.

Also, 40hr/wk is extremely easy to do these days since many parents are WFH and don't need to pad the schedule for a commute. Or they have jobs that can easily be staggered, or both. It's also ridiculous that anyone assumes that having a nanny for 50 hrs/wk means that they don't spend much time with their children. That's just straight up shaming anyone who works hours that are generally necessary. You can also easily spend 4+ hours per week day with your kids while they are awake, depending on their ages. Plus quality of time wins over quantity of time every single time.