What is a Nanny?

I find it interesting that when looking for pictures of "nannies and kids" on google images, I got several pictures of goats....hmm, is there a connection there? Let's hope not but give me a few days and I can come up with a witty, comical link between a nanny goat and what I do. Anyway, in short, a nanny is a babysitter who has more authority, experience, duties, etc. Nannies also get paid a great deal more than a babysitter. Also, the babysitter gets in her car and goes home when she's done with the job; this is not the case with a nanny. If the nanny is a live-in (lives with the family she works for) she is essentially at work 24/7. There are usually set hours she/he will work during the week, but her job is her home and vice versa. I'm getting ahead of myself though. Yes there are male nannies whom I like to call "mannies" and they have been excellent caregivers in my experience. There are several types of nanny jobs. The most prevalent are full-time, part-time, live-in, live-out, and nanny/housekeeper. A nanny's duties can range quite dramatically depending on the needs of the family.
Some typical duties are:
1. Child care
2. Laundry (children's and sometimes family's)
3. Meal preparation for children/sometimes the family
4. Carpooling to children's various activities
5. Light to heavy housekeeping depending on the job
6. Grocery Shopping/errand running
7. Some household management depending on the job

Along with the duties come some very nice perks as well. As with the duties, these are extrememly various and depend on what the family is willing to offer.
Some of them include:
1. Typically 2 weeks paid vacation
-usually after 6 months of employment
-sometimes one week must coincide with the family's vacation plans
-note that long vacation requests are much harder to accomodate than in a normal job
2. Use of private car/sometimes shared with the family
3. Car insurance is usually paid through the family
4. Typically nights and weekends off
-two days off per week is typical but not always Saturday and Sunday
-if more days/nights/weekends are needed family will specifiy prior to hiring
5. Airfare to nanny job and from, if contract is fulfilled
6. Some families offer health insurance (though I have yet to benefit from this)
7. Food is provided by the family
-not if you go out on the town, but basically eating at home is covered
8. Opportunity to travel with the family on occasion
9. Private quarters
-bathroom is private or shared with children
-basic furnishings are provided
-quarters can be in the house (usually basement, third floor, or somehow separated from the family's rooms)
-quarters can also be totally separate from the house as well
Starting salary can range pretty dramatically as well depending on experience, the family, the amount of work required, and the agency you choose to work with. A pretty base starting salary is $300/week. With several years of experience and great references however, you can make upwards of $1000+/week. It is important for anyone who is thinking of becoming a nanny to remember that every job/family is different and unfortunately, not all families are pleasant. As I mentioned in my introductory blog, being a nanny was a quick, free, easy way for me to get out of Utah, but I was only 19 and could have easily been taken advantage of because of my naivete. I do believe that being a nanny is one of the most rewarding, practically perfect jobs but you must still be smart about who you decide to work for and make sure they are the family for you. I have had jobs that paid ridiculous amounts of money per week where I was miserable and jobs that paid next-to-nothing in nanny standards and wouldn't have traded them for the world because of the relationship I had with the family. The perfect nanny job for you is out there, you just have to be prepared to search for it.