The best life there is! For those of you who don’t know, I am a full time nanny and a full time student. My weeks consist of going to school, changing diapers, running kids to activities, and doing homework. And sometimes I’ll manage to fit a few hours of sleep into the cycle. In my opinion, I am not your typical nanny. When you hear the word “nanny,” you probably think of one family hiring a girl to take care of the kids, clean the house, and do all the other stuff that comes along with nannying. Instead of working for one family a week, I work for five different families every week. For the most part, I work for every family more than once a week, but either way I am definitely booked. My most hectic day is 14 hours long for three different families!
Since I do work for several families weekly, it is a MUST that I am 100% organized. I carry my planner around with me everywhere. My whole life is pretty much in that thing, so if I ever lose it I am in big trouble! Being organized is key with this job, in particular, because my days are so blurred together that I always need it handy to remember whose house I’m going to next. Besides my planner, I have my nanny headquarters binder. This binder contains information regarding all the families I work for. It includes things like emergency contact information, medical information about the child, home addresses, and a lot more. Keeping track of 10 peoples’ garage codes and whose kid is allergic to what is a lot to remember, so I keep it handy for days that I almost walk out the house without deordorant on… (You know the days). Also, in case of an emergency, all the paperwork I have them fill out is a requirement is case anything goes wrong.
The main age I work with is between 6 months and 3 year old, as well as a few older kids. I really enjoy watching the little ones because they are just so snuggly and cute! The thing I love about working for different families is being able to have change in my schedule. I get to see different kids every day and it spreads them out just enough so when I do see them I am overjoyed! Having smiley faces waiting to greet you and getting a change of pace everyday is always a plus.
My nanny duties include everything from changing diapers, to driving the older kids to extracurricular activities. I am apart of a lot Nanny Groups and I think the biggest topic of discussion is what our jobs include. It is always interesting to see what other nannies have to do. One nanny I talked to said her job included taking care of the baby, his laundry, the dishes, preparing dinner for the parents when they get home from work, and running daily errands for them. Mind you, her job title is “nanny”. In my opinion, this “nanny” deserves the job title “Nanny AND Household Manager”. I get a lot of questions about what my duties include, and I just wanted to specify that I mainly take care of children, and if I do any other work besides that (i.e. running errands, food prep, cooking) I typically ask for more than my normal rate.
Many of my friends and girls my age ask a lot of questions in regards to my job, usually pertaining to the money. Since I am my own boss and I make my own schedule, I am in charge of pay too. I make more then minimum wage, not because I want more money or for other selfish reasons, but because I feel that the job that I do is very important. Parents are letting me take care of their most prized possession, which I take as a huge responsibility. Besides that, you get what you pay for. When hiring a high school babysitter or younger, the tasks are pretty simple. When you hire someone who is trained, has experience, and puts in effort to make a routine or schedule for your child, you are no longer paying for just a high school babysitter. You are hiring the real deal! So, for those of you are interested in being a nanny, I try to tell all of you that it isn’t just for the good money. You have to love what you do and always go above and beyond what is required of you.
I plan on doing a lot more posts on nannying and about my job in general. For instance, a typical day in the nanny life, a day out with the kids, how I pack for Disneyland, and much more! I also want to write about how to deal with some MB’s and DB’s (Mom Boss and Dad Boss), and some of my experiences that have been both positive and sometimes challenging.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post! Please let me know if you have any suggestions on more nanny posts!
XO,
Danielle Alana
