I am not a nanny but $15.00/hr is ridiculous. However, nannies are their own worst enemy. Nannies with college degrees. CPR training and other qualifications should refuse to work for such low salaries. Get a job as a receptionist and you will make more than $15.00/Hr and you won't have to put up with cheap and unreasonable parents.

As a receptionist you have to sit at a desk all day. You can't leave. Its boring. I made a lot of money in retail even though the base rate was only minimum wage. I was good at selling and made a lot from commission but I was on my feet all day. You get scheduled lunch and scheduled breaks but you are on the floor all other times. It was hard work and not very fun.

As a nanny, you get a lot of flexibility to plan your day. If its sunny you get to enjoy being out. If its cold you get to enjoy hanging out inside. Its the only job where you get to nap or watch Netflix. You don't need to dress up. Kids are fun. Its not something to do forever but its a good job.

I've always thought that the wonderful thing about being a Career Nanny is that your wages could always go up. There will always be wealthier families willing to pay you more than you made in your last position. Lazy nannies with little to no experience and no qualifications aren't going to be eligible for higher paying positions but there are some nannies out there who make more than a lot of the MBs on this forum make.

Also, it is not a great job market out there. I think that a lot of nannies expect to obtain a wonderful, well-paying position within the first week that they start looking. In order to get a great position we need to weed through the job postings just like parents need to weed through applicants when choosing a nanny.

It took me several months of looking several times every single day on multiple sources in able to find the great position where I am now. It is worth the wait to find a well-paying position where you are appreciated and respected. Budget accordingly so that if something does happen to your job last minute you don't need to scramble and accept the first job that you are offered. Accept temporary positions while searching extensively for a long term position. Babysit to bring in extra cash during your search.m

This is good advice but there is a level of reality out there too. There are not many positions offered by super wealthy families who don't pay attention to what they are paying. Unfortunately, many of these high profile jobs are very intense with long hours, absentee parents, and travel.

I know a nanny who has a degree and started out working as a preschool teacher. She got promoted to Director of the entire preschool. She decided to get out of that line of work and became a nanny. She started out making more as a nanny than she was as Director of a preschool. Now, over 20 years later, she never stopped nannying and is making significantly more than she was when she was a Director.

I've always thought that the wonderful thing about being a Career Nanny is that your wages could always go up. There will always be wealthier families willing to pay you more than you made in your last position. Lazy nannies with little to no experience and no qualifications aren't going to be eligible for higher paying positions but there are some nannies out there who make more than a lot of the MBs on this forum make.

Also, it is not a great job market out there. I think that a lot of nannies expect to obtain a wonderful, well-paying position within the first week that they start looking. In order to get a great position we need to weed through the job postings just like parents need to weed through applicants when choosing a nanny.

It took me several months of looking several times every single day on multiple sources in able to find the great position where I am now. It is worth the wait to find a well-paying position where you are appreciated and respected. Budget accordingly so that if something does happen to your job last minute you don't need to scramble and accept the first job that you are offered. Accept temporary positions while searching extensively for a long term position. Babysit to bring in extra cash during your search.m

It's a shame that that is the only option though for a college educated woman who truly enjoys working with children, specifically in the very special one-on-one capacity that you get to do as a nanny. Sure I can go make more money as a receptionist or as a teacher, but I love building such close relationships with my charges, the freedom I have in planning our days and tailoring everything to their interests and needs.

Translation - being a nanny is much, much easier work than being a teacher. Go check out the nanny perk thread and see how many nannies love the downtime during naps and netflix time. Check out the constant threads about being able to run your errands while your charge enjoys developmentally appropriate independent play. As a teacher you need to be on at all times or you lose control of the group. You don't get to do your own thing and go wherever you want. You get a set a break and lunch time.

Yes, its too bad that the easy less work job doesn't pay as much over time.

My $24 an hr rates are an indication of your nonsense. You would obviously not be someone I could help, but of course I can't help everyone.

We're talking about a 40-something adult who has 20 years of professional experience, not a college-aged student.

Well if a 40 year old is doing the exact same job that she was doing 20 years ago then guess what her pay is not going to be much more. You'll have some natural inflation but don't expect big bumps. There is bump in how much you make when you compare someone with 0 experience and someone with 5 years experience but after this more time doesn't equal more money because the extra experience isn't really changing your marketability.

This happens to people in many industries if they stay are in a job that has no upward opportunities. If a nanny wants to make more than what the market is paying nannies which is around $15 then she needs to rethink her career plans. She could look into taking a 40 hour a week @$15 nanny job and then offering tutoring services after school or on weekends. She could take some business classes and try to build a nanny agency. If she is great at kid's events, she could offer weekend kid birthday party services. These options all involve more work but more money involves doing more work or working at a higher level.

We're talking about a 40-something adult who has 20 years of professional experience, not a college-aged student.

Anonymous wrote:
How is it, that you want a college graduate nanny, but you don't want to compensate her enough to keep up on her student loans?

Same thing goes for any committed nanny who pursues continuing education (workshops, lectures, classes, whatever); she requires an income to pay for all that.

You get what you pay for. If she can find a nanny who will take $15 an hour than good for her, I don't think it's a "low paying" wage for a student who has little experience, it's twice minimum wage.

Anonymous wrote:Just like any other "lower" paying job.

I'm in Los Angeles - guess what McDonalds employees make minimum wage. The background on the TV shows and movies make $8/hour.
And rent here is also high. Once saw a person renting their dining room for 575/month another was a sofa (just the sofa no storage for $250.
Lots of roommates and living paycheck to paycheck.

Once you saw someone renting out their dining room for $575? Wow, here you pretty much always turn the dining room, if you are lucky enough to have one, into another bedroom and you might rent it out for $800. People take a 2 bedroom apartment with living room, turn each bedroom into a double (college kids always go for this, they are never home much anyways) and have part or all of the living room sectioned off for another person, and a tiny area for a "living room" if the room is big enough. Sometimes the only shared space is the kitchen and bathroom.

19:09 sounds like a real professional.

How refreshing!

Thank you for posting.

Thank you, 19:01, for posting. The reason why most good nannies are nannies, is because they really love to care for children. It's such an embarrassing shame how many parents look down on those who are raising their children. It seems that for many of these parents, the children are just another commodity to add to their portfolios.

It's a shame that that is the only option though for a college educated woman who truly enjoys working with children, specifically in the very special one-on-one capacity that you get to do as a nanny. Sure I can go make more money as a receptionist or as a teacher, but I love building such close relationships with my charges, the freedom I have in planning our days and tailoring everything to their interests and needs.

I am not a nanny but $15.00/hr is ridiculous. However, nannies are their own worst enemy. Nannies with college degrees. CPR training and other qualifications should refuse to work for such low salaries. Get a job as a receptionist and you will make more than $15.00/Hr and you won't have to put up with cheap and unreasonable parents.