Oops. "Precious employers" should have been "previous employers".

This is OP. Yes, afraid to say it out loud was in the "afraid to jinx it" spirit, definitely not in the "but won't say so to nanny" spirit. We are a family that says thank you at the end of very day, and we mean it. We also thank her specifically for the little above and beyond things that she has been doing. I won't go into details about her first month with us, but let's just say it's been marked with events both personal and job related that could reasonably have led to a lot less reliability and a lot more crankiness. She handled everything so incredibly well, and it is just a testament to what kind of person she is. And yes - we made sure to express our appreciation for how well she managed it all.

She has been pleasantly surprised by things like us arriving home on time, cleaning our own kitchen, and making our kids take on age-appropriate responsibilities. We try to treat her like we'd want to be treated, which is apparently a departure from some of her precious employers.

You know how when you're appreciated and treated well that you really don't mind lending a helping hand or being more flexible that is absolutely necessary? That's how we are all operating, and it's a really nice dynamic. And it is SO nice after a series of total duds to finally get back to working with a really high quality, responsible, just plain GOOD person.

It's only been a month, OP. You sound a little crazy to think you have landed in nanny heaven because you have a nanny who does a good job the first month.

Happy dance all you like, but, more importantly, develop excellent communication with your new nanny. Let her know how awesome you think she is now, and let her know later when she does something you don't like. Good communication, and plenty of thank yous for a job well done, are good foundations for a future relationship.

^ possibly I didn't even think of that.

Anonymous wrote:^ I agree but in the title she stated afraid to say it out loud. Communication is important and her nanny will appreciate hearing or reading it

Hopefully she meant that she didn't want to jinx it.

^ I agree but in the title she stated afraid to say it out loud. Communication is important and her nanny will appreciate hearing or reading it

I think this thoughtful Mother and Nanny will have a long and fruitful relationship in the raising of those most fortunate children. Good luck to them all.

Let her know you appreciate her. Hearing that your appreciated is extremely important it can be verbal, in a card, or just a note to her. If she feels unappreciated and her hard work isn't important to you she MAY fall into doing the bare minimums. Why not if she doesn't think you notice or care that she is doing great then you won't notice or care if she does less

Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you for sharing all of that.

I suspect your nanny adores you to.
Congratulations for caring so much
and for your success.

Our nanny started just over a month ago, after what was an excruciatingly rough patch for our family of
unreliable candidates, flakes, a long stretch of temps and an unsuccessful agency engagement. We'd had great nannies in the past so I knew they were out there, but oh the stories I could tell of our odyssey of nanny hiring nightmares.

And then SHE came along, just as I was about to throw in the towel and call off the search. I almost didn't interview her because I was just exhausted by it all and just wanted to be done. Oh my god - she seemed too good to be true! Everyone hit it off right away. Her references were great. She was actually going to be responsible enough to give her current part-time employer two weeks notice. I was amazed.

She started working with us and...it was great. And continues to be great! She has shown herself to be UNBELIEVABLY reliable and responsible, phenomenal work ethic, and has a fantastic attitude. This weekend my kids confessed that they like her just as much as or maybe even a little bit more than their beloved former nanny of four years. That is huge.

I feel like I've died and gone to nanny heaven. And I'm still convinced that I'll wake up one morning and this awesome nanny will have just been a dream, and we're still on the temp nanny merry go round. I hope she at is around for a long, long time!

That is all. Thank you for the chance to do an anonymous nanny-related happy dance.