Tag: tips for nannies
Are your kids struggling to connect with your new nanny? Our little humans have some big emotions and may be dealing with separation anxiety when your new nanny starts caring for them.
What can you do to help your kids AND nanny bond?
Below are five tips for how to go from “my kids don’t like our nanny” to “when is our nanny going to come and play with us again”! We hope they help if you find yourself in this situation.
Hiring a new nanny? Don’t forget to conduct a working interview!
A working interview can give parents a better sense of the nanny’s work style and how they connect with your children before making a formal job offer. Remember to pay your nanny for the time they spend at your home during the interview.
In this guide, we walk through all aspects of working interviews, including:
– How to prepare for the working interview
– What to look for during the interview
– What to do after the working interview if it goes well (or doesn’t go well)
Each week, our team reviews dozens of nanny resumes. Most are well put together, but we constantly see the same nanny resume mistakes being made.
In this article, we walk through the top common mistakes we see on nanny resumes and how to fix them. Be sure to read all the way to the end for our pro tip – it’s a game changer when applying for nanny jobs!
Some of the mistakes we’ll cover are:
– Listing babysitting experience when it’s actually nanny experience
– Not listing special skill sets
– Not including child care experience on your resume
– Your resume is not up to date
We hope you find these tips useful for touching up your own resume!
Considering having a nanny watch your children overnight? Or going on vacation and want to take your nanny with you?
One of the most common questions families ask is how to pay for overnight or vacation child care. Do you pay a flat fee or per hour? Or both?
We’ve got you covered. Below, we walk through everything you need to know about overnight and vacation child care, including:
– What is the best way to pay your nanny for overnight care?
– Rules of thumb you will want to follow
– What job duties are okay to ask of your nanny during your time away?
There’s a popular corner of the internet dedicated to the secret thoughts of nannies, and it’s worth a look. While these “things nannies don’t say out loud” are meant to be funny, many of them point to real lessons for the families they work with.
A few examples: why it’s best not to answer the door for your nanny in your bathrobe (it can make the nanny feel uncomfortable), and why you should make sure the iPad or tablet your child uses isn’t synced to your phone (your nanny doesn’t want to see your private text messages).
Below, we walk through some of our favorites, along with our reactions and the takeaways for parents and nannies alike.
What happens if your nanny is injured while caring for your children? Are they covered through your homeowner’s insurance policy? Or your umbrella policy? Are you on the hook for medical bills? How much do you have to pay?
In this article we share a real world story about a nanny falling down the stairs and breaking her leg while at work. We cover who is responsible for paying the nanny’s medical bills, how to protect yourself in case this happens in your home plus:
– Homeowner’s Insurance Policy Coverage
– Umbrella Policy Coverage
– Workers Compensation Insurance Policy
– How to setup Workers Compensation Insurance
– How much does Workers Compensation Insurance cost?
Looking to separate yourself from other nannies who might be applying for the same job? In this guide, we share the top skills, attributes, and traits that families are REALLY looking for in a nanny.
These insights come from thousands of family interviews, and they cover what matters most when parents are deciding who to hire.
Below, we cover:
– Skills And Qualifications
– Most Requested Attributes or Characteristic Traits for Nannies
– Top On-The-Job Interactions
Pro Tip: You don’t have to have a “perfect” driving record. A speeding ticket or accident is normally not a deal breaker for parents.
It’s very common for a nanny to transport your kids to and from school as well as to activities like the park, movies, or sports practice.
If driving is one of your nanny’s job duties, it’s important to make sure your kids—and your nanny—are safe and properly covered. One question that comes up a lot is: do you need to add your nanny to your car insurance?
Below, we walk through our top tips, including:
– Important tips to consider if your nanny is driving their own car
– Things to consider when the nanny is driving a family’s car
– The nanny’s responsibilities when driving children
– How to reimburse for mileage
– Worker’s Compensation Insurance
– Vehicle inspections and much more!
A nanny binder is a collection of all important information that your nanny or sitter might need to ensure your kids are safe including topics such as:
– Food allergies
– Your emergency contact info and what to do if there is an emergency
– How to close and lock that sticky door or window
As well as other tidbits of information like your home’s wi-fi password, how to operate the heating/cooling system, and that little Johnny can’t get to sleep without his favorite blanket 🙂
Nanny binders are especially important (and helpful) if you have a new sitter watch your kids or routinely cycle through different care providers.
Pro Tip: Make sure that you leave the nanny binder on the kitchen counter, dining room table or another highly visible location. You don’t want your provider to be scrambling searching for the binder in case there is an emergency.
Below, we cover what a nanny binder is, why it’s important and what to include. We hope you find it useful!
Thinking about turning your babysitting experience into a full-time nanny career? Making the jump from occasional sitter to professional nanny is very achievable — it mostly comes down to presenting your experience well and taking a few intentional steps to build credibility.
Below are nine practical tips to help you transition from babysitter (or mother’s helper, camp counselor, or daycare worker) into a nanny role.
Letters of recommendation are especially valuable when you’re landing your first nanny position. They give you credibility while your formal nanny experience is still on the lighter side, so ask the families you’ve babysat or worked for whether they’d be willing to write one.
A well-written resume is essential. Make sure yours highlights your caregiving experience and your strengths as a candidate.
Include the number of children and their ages, along with the duties you were responsible for. If you babysat for several families, you can summarize that experience together — for example: “Cared for children ages six months to 13, up to three at a time, with responsibilities including…” and then list them out.
Any babysitting or mother’s helper role that was regular and recurring deserves its own separate entry on your resume. For example: “Smith Family After-School Babysitter, September 2020–present. Children ages five and seven. Provided regular after-school care including school pickups, snacks, homework help, and planned indoor/outdoor activities; provided full-day care Monday–Friday during the summer months.”
Highlight anything that sets you apart: volunteer experience, school clubs or activities, musical talents, or skills such as leadership, organization, and attention to detail, plus any relevant areas of study or interest.
A mother’s helper position is a great transitional role between babysitting and nannying. In this role you provide care while a parent is home — giving them an extra set of hands, or freeing them up to work in another room or run a quick errand. You may take on more responsibility than a babysitter, sometimes including light household tasks like laundry or organization.
Let people know you’re available. Local childcare communities — like Nanny Parent Connection if you’re in the Seattle area — are a great place to start, along with social platforms such as Facebook or Nextdoor. Also reach out to families you’ve babysat for: they may need more help, or know a friend or neighbor who does. And don’t forget to add any mother’s helper experience to your resume — it absolutely counts.
Babysitting and mother’s helper experience can help you land a daycare or preschool assistant position, which looks great on a nanny resume. This type of work shows you can multitask and care for multiple children at once — valuable for nanny shares or families with several children — and it demonstrates reliability, follow-through, and teamwork. Note that some of these roles may require additional child-development training or a background check.
Investing in training shows prospective employers you’re serious about becoming a nanny. Good options include the International Nanny Association and the U.S. Nanny Association, or simply search for “nanny classes” near you. Beyond nanny-specific courses, consider training in water safety, child development, positive discipline, special-needs care, child nutrition, or cooking.
Transitioning from babysitter to nanny is all about presenting your experience with confidence and continuing to build your skills. Follow these nine steps and you’ll be well on your way to landing a great nanny position.
If you’re not already part of our community, we’d love to have you. Nannies can join completely free, and Family/Parent memberships start at just $8.99/month.