Veteran nannies who have worked for multiple families.....

[Anonymous]

Do you still feel like you become as close to your charges as you did in the beginning? During my first few jobs I became extremely attached to the kids. I missed them during vacations and after the positions ended I had a desire to go back and visit as often as possible. I am friends with my early employers on facebook and I love seeing photos of my charges and seeing how much they've grown up. Recently though I feel like I'm just not forming the bond with my charges that I used too. I enjoy their company and I still love being a nanny, but I just can't seem to form that attachment anymore. I was with my most recent family for a year and when the position ended I just didn't feel the sadness that I've felt in the past. Can anyone else relate? I really miss that bond I had with my early charges.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I can definitely relate.
One thing I can tell you from my experience - while I loved all the kids and families I worked for, I got attached to some kids more than others.
I had a job for about three years with one family and I didn't get attached to the kids as much. I thought I was getting burnt out. I quit that job (still visit them and babysit on occasion) and I found some part time jobs for the next few months. I got the break I needed and I started another (somewhat full time) job. It's been over a year and I'm really attached to all of them.
We text all the time and send funny pictures/videos, etc. I get videos of the funny things the dogs do or some events I can't go to. Kids text me all the time as well (the older from his iPhone and younger from her iPod).
It only happened once before that I got really attached to the kids and I was with that family for 8 years.
I guess it really depends on the family and the dynamics.

[Anonymous]

Similar to PP, I have loved all the kids I have cared, for I have a deeper attachment to some, so much depends on the dynamics of a job.

As far as my thoughts of them outside of work, I will always wish them well, and some of the families/ kids I'm still in touch with.
But I think when I was younger I thought of the families more as mine. That's not to say I don't care about them after hours or connect with them after hours, but I have things in my personal life now that I suppose fills that spot. I'm not sure I worded that correctly.

The first jobs for me kind of like a first love everything is new and having to leave a job for the first time is crushing, and it's not that you don't love or feel sad when subsequent jobs end it's just that you've been there before. The first cut is the deepest and all that.

At least that's how it is for me.

Burn out is also very real. I've had to change it up every now and then to make sure my batteries were charged.

So no, you are not alone or abnormal.

[Anonymous]

It depends. My first job I rarely think about the family or the kids. I was sad when I left. I cried for a month and then got over it. The kids cried for me all of the time so the Mom didn't want me babysitting for date nights anymore...
My family after that I am very attached to and miss all the time.

[Anonymous]

Not really.

Maybe because I am an older nanny perhaps?

I bond with my charges now the same as I did with my charges then.

I develop a love for all of my charges that has always stuck with me long after I have left them.

However I am forty five now. If I were in my twenties, I might have felt differently.

I guess it's the Grandmother in me.