6 helpful nanny tips
For making the leap to in-home childcare
There are countless ways to work with children—all rewarding, surprising, and inspiring in their own way. You may work as a nanny, a teacher, a camp counselor, in arts education, or any number of places where kids grow and learn. In a way, these jobs are similar. They require you to understand child development, have loads of energy, and great rapport with parents.
But working in-home as a nanny or sitter can be very different from teaching in a classroom. If you’re looking to make the leap into in-home childcare, here are our top 6 nanny tips to instantly make you a parent favorite.
6 Tips to Become the Best Nanny
Mind the daily household chores
Take some extra time out of your nanny duties each day to clean up the space and make sure dishes are done and put away. If you’re working with older kids, this can be a teachable moment you have together, and for younger kids you can use nap time to get everything in order. This way parents don’t come home to chaos but can go instantly to snuggling their kiddos and having a nice evening together.
Communicate regularly with your family
If you work as a teacher or in activity classes, you rarely communicate with parents throughout the day. But as a nanny, parents may expect you to check in with updates. Ask the family you will be working for at the beginning of your hire to see what level of communication they may like during the day. Do they want you to make executive decisions and only reach out in an emergency? Do they want cute pictures of their child at the playground to see that everything is going well? By establishing this baseline from the start, the parents will feel respected and their trust in you will skyrocket.
Be proactive about meal prep
One big difference between working as a teacher and in the home is the cooking aspect. As a nanny, it is quite likely you will be requested to handle meals throughout the day. Brush up on your cooking skills for kids, learn how to make their favorites, and confidently take a huge piece of parents’ headaches off their plate. If you really want to dazzle them, meal prep for the week so they can include ingredients in their grocery lists. If your shift ends just before the kiddos’ dinner time, you can also offer to get the cooking started so everything is ready for the parents when they get home. Nothing makes parents happier than coming home after a long day at work and not having to instantly start a one-hour cooking project.
Check in on the laundry situation
As a full-time nanny, doing the kids’ laundry is often a part of your listed tasks, but if you’re a part-time nanny with time to spare, helping with laundry can make parents swoon. Ask them if they’d like you to help throw in a load during nap time, and make sure you have enough time to see the process through to dry and fold as well.
Be respectful—your place of work is someone’s home
The nanny-parent working relationship always requires a balance. It is your professional work situation, but it’s also intertwined in family life in a way that teaching or camp counseling isn’t. The same goes for your “office” - the family home. Be respectful of their boundaries by not eating everything in the fridge unless encouraged to, not putting your shoes up on the coffee table during nap time, or inviting playdates over without first confirming with the family.
Now that more and more parents are working from home, it’s especially important to have a conversation around boundaries and shared space. This will make both your working day and theirs easier - and most importantly, it will make the kiddos feel safer when they know the rules.Extending a bit of grace and courtesy goes a long way.
The truth about parenting is that it’s messy. Parents are doing the best they can every day, scrambling to get to work, snuggle with their kids, and take care of their daily lives. Sometimes it just doesn't all go according to plan. So if you show up one morning and the house is a mess and the kids haven’t had breakfast, or if a parent calls you frantic and unable to make it home on the dot when your shift ends, you can really save their day by offering a bit of flexibility. We’re not advocating for staying past your shift every day, but when the normal routines stumble, having you there as a rock can really save the whole family’s day: and it won’t go unnoticed.
The main difference between working with kids in regulated settings and in the home is that nannies can help make home life run smoother, happier, and better for everyone. By keeping an eye on the details and being a step ahead in the childcare game, you will quickly become a nanny that parents don’t know how they managed without. For more on this, read our 4 tips on how to become a nanny.
Bonus nanny tips!
Applying for nanny jobs? Here are some things to consider to help you land the job of your dreams.
Treat the nanny interview like any professional interview. This means dress appropriately and make sure you’re interviewing in a location and at a time when there will be no distractions. If a family sees you taking a FaceTime interview while you’re out driving, they will instantly wonder how that translates into your taking care of their children.
Come prepared. Be ready for questions not only about your previous childcare experience but about how you would react in different situations or experience you may have in handling out-of-the-box scenarios. For a sneak-peak of how we prep families in interviewing their nanny candidates, read this article on the best nanny interview questions.
Let your true self shine through. On the other end of the spectrum, you may be tempted to be too professional. But working with kids is not only a big responsibility; it’s a fun, engaging, active job. If you are enthusiastic about working with kids, if your eyes shine at the idea of doing crafts or playing make-believe for hours, let the parents see it.
Do you have what it takes to become a top-tier nanny?
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