Maybe you are wondering why I have the title with a question mark and an exclamation mark? If you had worked for over 10-years as a Nanny in private homes and then watched the new version of the “SuperNanny”, you would probably have it that way too!
I first want to make it clear that Jo Frost and Deborah Tillman are NOT… I repeat… NOT NANNIES!!! They are Parent Coaches. A private in-home childcare worker (A NANNY) does not come into your home and tell you how to raise your children or how to change your discipline styles. We also do not sit aside and voice our opinion to you while you are trying to make the changes necessary to have your children cooperate correctly.
The daily job of a Nanny is to come into your home and be an extension of you while you are unable to care for your child. You hire a Nanny to watch your children, take care of their needs, make sure they are safe, and to give them undivided attention in their own comfortable environment.
Now, don’t get me wrong. During my years of working as a Professional Nanny myself, I did offer suggestions from time to time to assist the parents. I would offer suggestions on how to place the child down for nap/bedtime and what items to feed them at certain stages of development. Sometimes, I would even give suggestions on ways to cope or handle sticky behavior situations with the children. However, I would NEVER come into the home, sit down with the parents and tell them what they are doing WRONG. That was not my position as a Nanny. Nor would I give them idea’s, implement them and then leave for 24-48 hours and come back to make sure they had followed my “rules”.
These shows really aggravate me because they do not accurately depict the position of a Professional Nanny. Nor do they depict the accurate relationship that a Nanny has between the parents and the children. The title of the show should be renamed to “Parenting 101”. If you watched a show based on an actual day in a Nanny’s job, you would not see anything that is happening in either of these shows!
I just finished watching Season 1, Episode 3 of “America’s SuperNanny” on Lifetime. This is the first episode that I had watched of Deborah’s. Now, I didn’t really think the suggestions she was giving or the instruction was all too bad. However, I again do not like that they call her a “Nanny” when she is clearly a parental coach. Once the show ended, there was a brief showing of next week’s episode. (Side note: That Dad’s behavior is AWFUL!) Beyond what was happening in the episode, I didn’t appreciate the tag line “Watch this BAD A$$ Nanny” on there! What?!! First off, this was Lifetime television right? Secondly, I don’t appreciate any curse word being placed in front of a title that I carried proudly for over 10-years! Lastly, we as a Nanny community prefer to not have any horrible or derogatory title placed before our profession to prevent us from being labeled incorrectly. Not all Nannies are “Bad”, but that’s a story for an entirely different blog.
Anyhow, just for clarification purposes, I am going to give you an accurate description of a “Professional Nanny”. What show did you watch? I’ll let you be the judge.
According to the International Nanny Association (www.Nanny.org), a Nanny is described as the following:
WHAT IS A NANNY?
A nanny is a child care specialist whose workplace is a family’s private home. A nanny is employed by a family to provide the highest level of customized child care and to give personalized attention to the family’s children. A nanny may be employed full time or part time, and the nanny may or may not live with the family. The nanny’s role is to provide support to the family by serving as a loving, nurturing and trustworthy companion to the children.
Ideally, a nanny will have specialized child care skills, a deep understanding of children and a genuine love of caring for children. A nanny offers the family convenient and consistent high quality child care by meeting each child’s physical, emotional, social and intellectual needs. In addition to traditional nannies that provide general child care, “specialty” nannies exist to meet the needs of families who desire a caregiver with expertise in a specific area.
TYPES OF SPECIALTY NANNIES
Newborn Care Specialists
A newborn care specialist is a nanny who typically has specialized training and always has extensive experience in newborn care or nursing. Newborn care specialists often provide 24 hour child care for families with newborns during the first weeks of a child’s life.
Sleep Trainers
A sleep trainer is a nanny who specializes in developing individual routines and systems for helping babies and children develop solid, healthy sleep habits.
Temporary Nannies
A temporary nanny accepts short term employment. Temporary nannies may provide emergency care, sick care or backup care. These assignments may last anywhere from a few hours to several months. Some temporary nannies travel with families to assist with child care.
Multiples Specialists
A multiples specialist is a nanny who has extensive experience caring for multiples and who works with families who have twins, triplets or higher order multiples.
Governesses
A governess is an educationally qualified nanny employed by a family for the full or part-time private home education or tutoring of the family’s children. A governess functions as an educator and is not usually employed to perform domestic tasks or to meet the physical needs of the family’s children.
OTHER TYPES OF IN-HOME CHILD CARE PROVIDERS
In addition to nannies and specialty nannies, there are other types of child care providers that commonly work in private homes.
These include:
Babysitters
A babysitter provides supervisory, custodial care of children on a full-time or part-time basis. Many babysitters have no special training and have limited child care experience.
Au Pairs
An au pair is a foreign national between the ages of 18-26 who enters the United States through the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Au Pair Exchange Program, to experience American life for up to 24 months (au pairs in good standing can apply to extend their initial 12 month visit an additional 6, 9 or 12 months). Au pairs participate in the life of the host family by providing limited child care services (maximum 10 hours per day, 45 hours per week) and are compensated for their work according to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Au pairs may not be placed in homes with infants three months of age or younger, unless a parent or responsible adult will be in the home supervising the au pair. An au pair may not be placed in the home with a child two years of age or younger unless they have 200 or more hours of documented child care experience.
Parents’ Helpers
A parents’ helper is employed by a family to provide full-time or part-time child care and domestic help for families in which one parent is home most of the time. Parents’ helpers may be left in charge of the children for brief periods of time and may or may not have previous child care experience.
Nursery Nurses
The title nursery nurse is used in Great Britain and refers to a person who has received special training and preparation in caring for young children. When employed by the family, she or he may live in or outside of the family’s home. A nursery nurse works independently and is responsible for everything related to the care of the children. Duties are generally restricted to child care and the domestic tasks related to child care. Nursery nurses on average work 50 to 60 hours per week. In addition to specialized training, the nursery nurse will also have successfully passed the national British certification examination of the Council for Awards in Children’s Care and Education (CACHE), which is formerly referred to as the National Nursery Examination Board Certificate (NNEB). In the United States, the term “nurse” is reserved strictly for licensed medical professionals.
Notice that there is not one thing about a “Parent Coach” being a “Nanny” in this whole thing??
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