People in the states often refer to their nannies as babysitters......drives me insane.....I personally think that's a HUGE insult to someone who has made a career from taking care of children.
In my experience it can sometimes be flippant in mid conversation and I can't be bothered to deal with it and other times when people ask me "Are you Miss I's babysitter"? I say "No, I'm her nanny" and the look that crosses their face is complete confusion. Sometimes I get asked "what's the difference" here is my take on it all.
Babysitter
I used to be a babysitter before I was a nanny. I used to go around to people's houses at night when the children were all ready for bed and even sometimes asleep and I would stay with them, while their parents went out for a few hours. I used to have a regular job on a Tuesday night for my math teacher when he and his wife went to their Morris Dancing lessons :o) (Wow....I just looked up Morris Dancing in Wiki and there was a pic of my home town Skipton, that's quite a shock.....even more shocking when I clicked on the pic was the author of the photograph 'Rod Hull and Emu' ....you have to be British to appreciate the humour in that)!
I digress.....I believe a babysitter is someone who is employed on a temporary basis for a few hours in the home to take care of the children. Their pay is an hourly rate that has been agreed upon and it's usually a temporary situation.
Nanny
A nanny is someone who takes care of children in a families home as her career of choice. Hours and pay is established and often a contract is in place to secure all the details. They are paid a salary, not by the hour.
A nanny is someone who is serious about childcare, it is of the utmost importance to a nanny that the child is well cared for, nurtured and educated on a daily basis. A good nanny will treat her charges as she would treat her own children, be invested in teaching good manners and skills, and educate them in all areas of life.
A good nanny will be trained in CPR and will have attended child care classes (although not as common in the states as in the U.K.)
As you may know if you've been reading this blog, I take great pride in being a Norland Nanny. Norland is the college I trained at and is renown for being the top nanny training college because of it's extensive education. When I graduated 21 years ago (OMG) it was a 2 year course, now they have added a BA honors degree to the basic course. So here are a few things that set a Norlander apart....
They have to wear a uniform whilst at college....Mary Poppins eat your heart out....you can't match a Norland uniform, brown felt hat, white gloves, sensible brown lace up shoes and a beautiful beige dress :o) want to see a pic? click here
The training rivals any other child care training, talk about going above and beyond....in our 2 year course we had to work in a primary school, a creche, a special needs class, various stages of daycare from 6 weeks to 5 yrs and even had to spend 6 weeks working in a hospital (maternity or pediatric ward). And let's not forget the children's hotel!! An area of the college where parents could leave their children for a few days to have a break, the children were assigned a nanny to be by their side at all times, even to sleep in the same room as them. Outings and activities were planned, the children had a blast and the nannies got to experience what it's like look after a child on a daily basis.
Norlanders these days excel even further for example they take Tae Kwon Do classes to defend themselves and the children they care for from kidnappers and attackers and drive through skid pad training courses in order to make safe, clean getaways from the paparazzi (or if there's ice on the road they know how to handle it - but that's slightly less exciting to discuss)......talk about SUPERNANNY!
You may think that's a little extreme but many Norlanders go on to work for well established, financially secure, famous and royal employers quite often with bodyguards.
So are you now wondering what Au-pairs are? I guess I better cover that too.
Au-Pair
Au-Pair means 'on par with the family' The Au-pair program was designed to give young girls the chance to live in and explore another country. Au-pairs are connected with a family and they have to live in with them for no more than a year. They have a set amount of hours that they are not supposed to work over, and are expected to do light household chores as well as take care of the children. For this they are paid a low salary, basically intended as pocket money to go and explore the country they are in and in return the family receive child care that is not too expensive. Candidates are carefully interviewed in their own countries by members of the program and background checks are made and references checked for both family and Au-pair. When an Au-Pair is matched with a family the Au-Pair is sent to that country and first stop is to stay with a group of other Au-pairs usually in a hotel where they receive 2 days of lectures on child care. How do I know all of this? Well in order to receive my work visa I had to go through the Au-Pair America scheme.....that's right, I had to pretend I knew nothing about child care for 2 days....it wasn't easy! I stayed in Manhattan right by the park so it was nice to experience NYC.
I hope that clarifies things a bit. This is only my opinion.....I have read others on the Internet, some have very similar beliefs to mine and then there are others that I really don't agree with especially one from care.com. They go to the trouble of distinguishing a nanny in a very professional manner and then in a later statement state that some nannies live in with the families and they are called live in nannies or Au-pairs!!! Get your facts straight care.com!!!! What a load of rubbish!
And on that note I will bid you a lovely Memorial Day weekend.....I hope the weather is good and you all enjoy your BBQing.
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