The cost of daycare and dayhomes can be excruciatingly expensive. Should your family get a nanny?
When Dashing Mom and I started dating she used two sneaky tactics to get me to fall madly in love with her.
First, she showcased an interest in music.
The very first time I met Dashing Mom, we immediately started talking about music and sifting through a shelf full of records. As a musician that was – at the time – a lead singer and guitar player, I was pretty much instantly in love. Later, she would compare my singing to that of a young Scott Weiland and my guitar playing to Silverchair’s Daniel Johns. I pretty much HAD to marry her after that.
Secondly, she told me she had grown up with nannies.
This lead me to believe that she was filthy stinking rich. I pictured a childhood home with a spiral staircase, chandelier, backyard pool and more. While I would never marry for money, as my Dad used to say “It’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich person as a poor person.”
It would only be later that I would discover you don’t need to be rich to have a nanny and by this point I was already head-over-heels in love and would have moved in with Dashing Mom if she lived in a box in the park. Ultimately the choice to have nannies was the right one for her family growing up. They weren’t rich, but the experience of having nannies was an important one in their lives and in the end, the nannies they had ended up feeling like part of their family.
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The Good Nanny
When you think about a nanny, it’s likely images of Mary Poppins and Nanny McPhee pop to mind. However, the truth about nannies is so much more than their Hollywood stereotypes.
I recently had the good fortune of meeting Kristen, AKA The Good Nanny. She was kind enough to feature me on her blog which in turn gave me the opportunity to ask her some questions about nannies that I had long wondered.
Kristen has worked as a nanny for the last nine years and provides child care and household management for wonderful families in Canada. She is certified as a Child Development Assistant and Newborn Care Specialist as well as an Associate Member of the International Nanny Association. She has completed training certificates in Understanding Highly Sensitive Children, The Impact of Technology on Children and Childhood Anger.
She has cared for families with newborns, twins, toddlers and school aged children up to 13-years-old in addition to being a mother’s helper, night nanny and travel nanny.
As I read through her list of accomplishment’s I can’t help but notice that she’s more qualified to look after my daughter than I am.
Below is my Q&A with her. If you’d like to get in touch with her yourself you can find her on Instagram as @nannykkristen or at her website.
Q & A with The Good Nanny
How did you get into nannying?
I have been in the childcare industry for 10 years. I started nannying in 2010. At the time I was working at a daycare as an Assitant Director. I was making lunch for 40 children, and I realized I wanted more. I wanted a better, more one-on-one relationship with the children in my care. I wanted to offer families a more inclusive childcare option. So I took the leap and started nannying, and I have never looked back!
What would you say is the biggest misconception about nannies?
The biggest misconception is that we are babysitters.
Nannies are professional, educated caregivers offering care to families that are looking for a different childcare option. We provide dedicated care during a child’s important development stages. A nanny provides age appropriate learning, establishes routines, and does the scheduling. We make the meals, provide appropriate discipline, assist with homework, as well as providing a positive environment for the children to thrive emotionally and intellectually. Being a nanny encompasses more responsibility, love, support, and time than a babysitter can provide.
What does the role of a nanny typically look like?
A Nanny’s number one priority is the children in their care. Nannies can provide care for newborns, multiples, toddlers, and school age children. Nannies help and support children through their daily needs. A Nanny also provides educational crafts, games, outings, playdates, daily learning, making meals, and of course… dance parties in the kitchen!
Qualified Nannies can also assist with potty training, sleep training, overnight care, travelling with the family, and any other requests the family may have. Every nanny is unique, as well as every family. One family’s needs can’t be comparable to another’s. A family will have different duties required of their nanny throughout the day, which may include light house keeping or other house hold tasks pertaining to the children.
How does the cost of a nanny compare with a day home/daycare?
The rate a nanny charges is based on their education and experience, as well as what the position entails. Nannies charge anywhere from $16-30 per hour. While daycares charge anywhere from $900-$1800 per child, a month.
If a family has only one child, a nanny could be considered quite expensive, but the positives of having specialized child care and in-house services could outweigh the extra costs. If a family has multiple children in care, the rate of a nanny would be comparable to daycare prices. I believe the care a nanny provides is more individualized and personal. This isn’t to say daycare/dayhomes don’t provide adequate care and attention, as most are wonderful. Many daycares/home have a higher caregiver-to-children ratio, which is where nannies come in, providing more focused and one-on-one attention. No dayhome, daycare, or nanny provides “the best” care option, it is the parents decision to decide which option best suits their family needs.
Final thoughts
Ultimately, just like being a stay-at-home dad, the choice to get a nanny or to put your child in daycare is a personal one. There are pros and cons to everything and you just need to decide what is right for you and your family.
Have you or anyone in your family had nannies? What has that experience been like?
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