A good nanny is hard to find

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the title and with the responses you've received. You do get what you pay for. Paying $5 more an hour has paid me dividends in not having to miss work and damaging my career reputation by having flaky childcare. I recommend searching on DCUM from previous families that have children starting school and are trying to find loving families for their nanny to go to.

I just so happen to be one of those moms. If you do need a US citizen, on the books, who until your little one needs care until they start Kindergarten, my nanny is it!

Email me at [e-mail] if you want to talk about her credentials and what you'll need to do to "get" her.

That's how you know it's really someone good; when the previous mom interviews YOU.

A good nanny does not need help in being "re-homed". They are not puppies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. This feedback is useful. A couple of responses:

1) I don't care too much about market rate. This goes beyond trying to save a few bucks, I'm trying to find good sustainable childcare for my son and at this point that doesn't have a price. For those quoting DC living prices, this is not in DC, this is in silver spring, MD. So the wage is in fact fair. But again, that's not the point. I would be willing to pay for the right care.

2) of course I'm an overprotective mom. It's my first baby! I'm also generous, flexible, kind, and respectful of my nannies. And I'm a city girl so outings don't scare me and on the contrary I encourage them. So I don't think that's the issue.

3) the real question for me and motivation in posting in the first place is: even if you are willing to pay $$$ for the right fit, where do you look? Posting online leads mostly to randos which is why we have been through 6 nannies. One had a criminal background. One was moody (I posted about this on this forum a while back), one didn't want to be paid on the books, one went back to her country, and one was telling me that her dead mother was calling her on the phone. I figured that was grounds to say let's not see each other again.

Where are the good nannies at? The warm nurturing women who speak English fluently (whether native or not), take initiative, love your baby, and are just overall reliable, professional, and trustworthy?

MB here. Leaving aside the rate issue (which I agree is a big one and I agree with what others have posted), there are a lot of red flags in this post and your original one. In general, you seem to be thinking of this job as a gift for a nanny and not considering what you, the employer, can offer. Any employer needs to bring something to the table to attract good employees. Are you offering benefits, and if so what are they? Do you offer the nanny use of a car to drive your son in? Are you working from home and if so do you stay out of her way? If you are not working from home are you constantly texting her or expecting her to spend time at the end of the day with you going over every little thing?

Really, you need to think about why a great nanny would want to come work for you. Your baby being cute is irrelevant. What makes the job you are offering worthy of an excellent nanny? Compensation is a very big piece of that but not the only piece.

For example, I work from home and thought very carefully about this when interviewing prospective nannies, because I knew they wouldn't like it. I promised to stay entirely out of their way, holed up in my office (thankfully in a separate part of the house with an attached bathroom). If they needed something they texted me. If I wanted to grab some food, I texted to see if this was an ok time for me to appear, though usually I tried to wait until I knew they were out of the house. I treated my home as their workplace, and I think that helped enormously in creating a positive work environment for our nannies. We found our nannies on Craigslist and care.com and they were excellent.

[Anonymous]

12:17:. You are a very intelligent woman. OP, read her post and profit there by.

[Anonymous]

Email me i might hv a great fit for you..rhiathomas1 at hotmail dot com