Hiring care for your children is an important decision in every parent’s life. Making the right choice in picking the person you want to share the responsibility of your children with can take time.
Parenting on Female First
So, to help you with the all-important search and decision, here's Care.com's Nanny Expert Rosemary Albone, giving us her 12 top tips for hiring and sharing the care of your children with a Nanny.
1. Find the ‘right fit’ for your situation and don’t compare yourself unfavourably with other family’s choices about their childcare provision; whatever works for you and your children is right. The default ‘one size fits all’ is never applicable where families are concerned.
2. Give yourself a good amount of time before actually needing your Nanny to get recruiting. Hiring in panic mode is not helpful.
3. Use a reputable recruitment channel, such as Care.com, to help you in your search. They provide excellent support throughout the whole journey of hiring and working with nannies and other childcarers.
4. Recruit safely using all the checks available on Care.com and trust your instinct. The person who you choose to share the care of your child or children with must be someone you feel ‘right’ with. Don’t ignore any indicators that tell you this person is not right for you.
5. Be clear and confident about your expectations and boundaries from the start and express them clearly by talking to your nanny and writing it all down for them. It takes time but pays dividends.
6. Give everyone time to settle in once your nanny is hired, including yourself, your partner and your children. Adapting to a new dynamic can take a little time.
7. Agree on regular times to have a catch up chat with your nanny to talk about the children and as importantly, to check out how they feel working with your family is going for them. Interest in your nanny as a person is crucial if you want to get to know them and you want them to stay!
8. Enjoy being a Mum. Having other people share in the care of your children does not mean that you are any less of a parent. You will always be your child’s number one person.
9. Enjoy the interaction that your nanny has with your children. If they are able to get the children off to sleep quicker than you or get them to tidy their rooms- so what? Sharing these things with your nanny isn’t a competitive thing!
10. If you are concerned about anything, then talk to your nanny straight away. Don’t let issues build up into something unresolvable. Children will pick up the tension and react.
11. Make sure that the legal stuff is always sorted including paying your nanny on time.
12. Keep specific times as family time only, and stick to them. Spending regular undisturbed time with your children is critical and gives your nanny time to themselves to recharge and refresh
Rosemary Albone is a Norland trained nanny, with over 20 years experience as a nanny to private families and nursery manager. Rosemary is Care.com’s nanny expert, and can be contacted for expert advice and opinion via email: [email protected].
Share your nanny tips with us in the comments below or tweet us @FemaleFirst_UK