Anonymous wrote:Maybe it's just because I'm in the Boston area, but I know so many nannies with master's degrees, mostly in education or psychology. They too have student loans to pay off!

Simple put, and yes this will make me sounds like a bitch, but if you can't afford $45K to $50 for a basic nanny, then maybe it's not within your means to have one. Yes, first year lawyers have crazy hours! Yes, you need the flexibility, so a nanny is needed. However, that convenience come at a price.

It's like buying something from 7-11 on Christmas. You know it'd cost you only $1 if you got it from the grocery store, but since it's not open and you need the convenience, you are stuck paying $4 for it.

If you can't afford a nanny, the most expensive of all child care, don't get one. Or be willing to have very low expectations when it comes to who you hire. You get what you pay for, simple as that.

Well said. When you can't afford a nanny, beg a relative or friend to help you out. You've helped them before, right?

Maybe it's just because I'm in the Boston area, but I know so many nannies with master's degrees, mostly in education or psychology. They too have student loans to pay off!

Simple put, and yes this will make me sounds like a bitch, but if you can't afford $45K to $50 for a basic nanny, then maybe it's not within your means to have one. Yes, first year lawyers have crazy hours! Yes, you need the flexibility, so a nanny is needed. However, that convenience come at a price.

It's like buying something from 7-11 on Christmas. You know it'd cost you only $1 if you got it from the grocery store, but since it's not open and you need the convenience, you are stuck paying $4 for it.

If you can't afford a nanny, the most expensive of all child care, don't get one. Or be willing to have very low expectations when it comes to who you hire. You get what you pay for, simple as that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Not the Pp you are quoting, but I've never met a nanny worth $25/hr.

What makes you worth this much? You provide child care. Anyone can do your job. This is why there are so many of you out there, dictating the $15/hr market rates you abhor.

What makes a nanny worth $25/hr? Parents who agree with her and can afford her rates. That's all. No one here is telling you want you can and can't do. Neither will certain parents turn down the nanny they want just because you feel she isn't worth it.


Point made. No nanny is worth $25/hr.


How about a nanny with an advanced degree, significant experience, professional, great references, and unique skills and talents (teaching experience, special needs, bilingual, plays an instrument, amazing cook, etc.) These nannies are out there, and yes they do charge high hourly rates. This is the résumé I am building and when I get there I assure you $15/hour won't cut it.

Good luck.

Nothing you list makes you worth $25/hr. especially in this economy with many, many nannies with those credentials asking for market rates.

Neither you nor your girlfriends have the power to determine the value of my services any more than I have the power to determine the value of your services. Your attempt at making it more complicated than that is silly.

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Not the Pp you are quoting, but I've never met a nanny worth $25/hr.

What makes you worth this much? You provide child care. Anyone can do your job. This is why there are so many of you out there, dictating the $15/hr market rates you abhor.

What makes a nanny worth $25/hr? Parents who agree with her and can afford her rates. That's all. No one here is telling you want you can and can't do. Neither will certain parents turn down the nanny they want just because you feel she isn't worth it.


Point made. No nanny is worth $25/hr.


How about a nanny with an advanced degree, significant experience, professional, great references, and unique skills and talents (teaching experience, special needs, bilingual, plays an instrument, amazing cook, etc.) These nannies are out there, and yes they do charge high hourly rates. This is the résumé I am building and when I get there I assure you $15/hour won't cut it.

Good luck.

Nothing you list makes you worth $25/hr. especially in this economy with many, many nannies with those credentials asking for market rates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not the Pp you are quoting, but I've never met a nanny worth $25/hr.

What makes you worth this much? You provide child care. Anyone can do your job. This is why there are so many of you out there, dictating the $15/hr market rates you abhor.

What makes a nanny worth $25/hr? Parents who agree with her and can afford her rates. That's all. No one here is telling you want you can and can't do. Neither will certain parents turn down the nanny they want just because you feel she isn't worth it.

Point made. No nanny is worth $25/hr.

Is English your second or third language?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not the Pp you are quoting, but I've never met a nanny worth $25/hr.

What makes you worth this much? You provide child care. Anyone can do your job. This is why there are so many of you out there, dictating the $15/hr market rates you abhor.

What makes a nanny worth $25/hr? Parents who agree with her and can afford her rates. That's all. No one here is telling you want you can and can't do. Neither will certain parents turn down the nanny they want just because you feel she isn't worth it.

Point made. No nanny is worth $25/hr.

How about a nanny with an advanced degree, significant experience, professional, great references, and unique skills and talents (teaching experience, special needs, bilingual, plays an instrument, amazing cook, etc.) These nannies are out there, and yes they do charge high hourly rates. This is the résumé I am building and when I get there I assure you $15/hour won't cut it.

Anonymous wrote:
Not the Pp you are quoting, but I've never met a nanny worth $25/hr.

What makes you worth this much? You provide child care. Anyone can do your job. This is why there are so many of you out there, dictating the $15/hr market rates you abhor.

What makes a nanny worth $25/hr? Parents who agree with her and can afford her rates. That's all. No one here is telling you want you can and can't do. Neither will certain parents turn down the nanny they want just because you feel she isn't worth it.

Point made. No nanny is worth $25/hr.

havent read the whole thread, but our nanny started at 15/hr, though it has since gone up. Her pre-tax salary, with OT, is about 45k which was a significantly higher salary than what i made from age 30 to 36, when I got bumped up to 60k, but then had kids....). Her busband is an electrician, probably makes a decent salary, they have health benefits through his employment they have 2 kids in publlic school and are buying a house in silver spring. SHe does not drive and did not have a lot of experience when we hired her, but is more competitive now. Maybe she should be getting paid more, but we can't afford more, she is free to find a new job that pays more and we would give her a stellar recommendation, but I think she likes working for us. We try to make it good for her in other ways--lots of vacation, transportation expenses, and we do not micromanage at all, but the reality is that our family's income of 135 does not provide lots of room for a 25/hr nanny. OUr best bet financially now would be to put #1 in afterschool and #2 in daycare, but we are reluctant to do that because our nanny is worried about getting another job. So, we would prefer to keep her employed as long as we can and as long as she wants to. Exploitative? or realistic?

Anonymous wrote:Not the Pp you are quoting, but I've never met a nanny worth $25/hr.

What makes you worth this much? You provide child care. Anyone can do your job. This is why there are so many of you out there, dictating the $15/hr market rates you abhor.

What makes a nanny worth $25/hr? Parents who agree with her and can afford her rates. That's all. No one here is telling you want you can and can't do. Neither will certain parents turn down the nanny they want just because you feel she isn't worth it.

MB here - Somewhat related tangent: I can't believe that a cleaning lady I was considering hiring wanted $25 an hour. It seems crazy to me that people who clean houses can make so much more an hour than nannies do. Having said that, I have had people apply to clean our house who will work for $10 an hour! It's a crazy world.

Not the Pp you are quoting, but I've never met a nanny worth $25/hr.

What makes you worth this much? You provide child care. Anyone can do your job. This is why there are so many of you out there, dictating the $15/hr market rates you abhor.

You don't know of people who earn $25/hr for infant care?

There wouldn't be $15/hour nanny jobs out there if there wasn't a market for it.

I understand that this doesn't amount to tons of $$$ each month, but nannies have to recognize this little economic concept called "supply and demand."

I pay my nanny much more than $18/hour, but if I had one baby? Sorry - but I would likely be able to find lots of good nanny candidates for $15/hour (as have my friends who have recently employed nannies). This doesn't make us bad people, but why would we pay more than the market dictates? Certainly you wouldn't expect anybody to pay $15k for a car just because you think the individuals employed in the factory should get paid more, when the market has dictated that the price of the car is $10k.

Most people here prefer to pretend there's no difference between a sitter and a nanny. Maybe it's because some parents feel better when they think they've hired a "nanny", rather than the sitter that they actually did hire. (A nanny costs more than a sitter.) Most sitters may prefer to think of themselves as nannies, as well.

There's no one to correct their misconceptions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:08:15 - I'm a nanny with a degree, teaching experience, and nanny experience. I am in the higher pay bracket. You don't want, you say, a nanny who will teach your child or who has extra qualifications and that's fine - I have always agreed there are good and bad nannies at every pay grade. But what I will say is that there is an enormous difference between the way I interact with my charges and the way the other young, HS-graduate nannies interact with theirs. They are snippy, impatient, disinterested and too busy gossiping with other nannies to play. Me? I'm on the floor pushing trucks, rolling hula hoops, and chasing down stray balls. Again this isn't true universally but it is true enough that others have commented on it. 9/10 of my nanny friends are also college grads bc I can't stand to spend any part of my day with nannies who complain about their job - and those of us who worked our way through school are, on the whole, way more appreciative.

Fwiw the other great nannies I see are 40+ Latina women who are just LOVELY with the kids (although I don't speak enough Spanish to get to know them personally).

Honestly, I don't doubt that high-end nannies exist and offer something qualitatively different, but I think you picked the wrong example to illustrate your point. You don't ignore your charges? You don't snap at them? You get on the floor to play with trucks and chase balls? That's...like...basic. I do all that with my son. And I'm not a high-end mother, just a regular one. You want to make an example of a difference between a professional nanny and a glorified babysitter, pick a better one.

Not sure what you're talking about.

Thought I was clear, let's try again.

The nanny above said, "there is an enormous difference between the way I interact with my charges and the way the other young, HS-graduate nannies interact with theirs. They are snippy, impatient, disinterested and too busy gossiping with other nannies to play. Me? I'm on the floor pushing trucks, rolling hula hoops, and chasing down stray balls. " What I'm saying is that these things, while great, to me are basic, average nanny skills. What exactly here is a sign of a highly experienced, educated nanny? That she isn't snippy or impatient and that she gets down on the floor to play with her charges? To me, these things are basic expectations of any nanny. Not a hallmark of a highly experienced, educated professional. Again, I'm sure that highly experienced, educated nannies make a difference, I just think that the example cited did not explain that difference very well.

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