THE GOOD NANNY GUIDE

The complete handbook on Nannies, Au Pairs, Mother's Helps, Childminders and Day Nurseries

by Charlotte Breese and Hilaire Gomer

An excerpt 

The Ideal Nanny

The question of whether an ideal nanny exists is confidently answered by many employers who can't speak highly enough of a present incumbent. In fact, it may be observed that celebrities, from Mick Jagger to Ester Rantzen, given the chance to talk about their private lives, all take the opportunity to give their nannies a puff - a good insurance policy for a warm greeting on returning from work.

It is surprising, given how much time this book spends discussing the problems of the nanny/employer relationship and its pitfalls, how often both parties like each other and get on famously. Everybody's human and, regrettably, nannies are no exception. Even an ace has her week points. It all depends how much you trust, depend on and genuinely like your nanny as to whether you focus on her minor faults and they drive you mad, or whether you choose to ignore them almost entirely because she's so great in virtually every other way.

It might be helpful to read the following comments before discussing what type of nanny you want to live with. A top ten of qualities employers most prize in their nannies is listed below in the order in which they were most frequently mentioned:

cheerful
clean and neat
humorous
flexible
punctual
polite
reliable
fun
child-loving
honest

Nannies were less voluble about their ideal employers, but because they all said the same thing, their top ten list of 'requirements' created itself:

easy-going
down-to-earth
kind
friendly
appreciative
humorous
fun
fair
reasonable
ordinary

The amusing aspect is that the only two adjectives in common on the two lists are 'fun' and 'humorous', so if employers think they can't grin and bear it, they had better start trying. Nannies pray that you will laugh like a drain when they have flooded the bathroom. 'Laughing it off' and 'luckily she saw the funny side' are common pronouncements, which will make any experienced employer grind her teeth.

Readers will quickly get the picture from the following comments that how employers behave towards a nanny matters crucially. There is only one, a mother's help, who says, "They must be courteous and reasonable but I need not like them.' All the others say:

Extremely important that I like my employer.

Looks at me as an equal.

A bad relationship causes a bad atmosphere and is sensed by the kids.

My employers are great people and I respect them.

Somebody friendly, which matters a lot if you live in.

A relationship with an employer is like one with a friend or a
guardian and is bound to go up and down. Your overall feeling must be liking them.

I like a boss who doesn't become too friendly and nosey.

You'd better like her. Your employer is your charge's most 
treasured possession.

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The Good Nanny Guide is written by two mothers with nearly forty years of hiring and firing nannies, mother's helps, maternity nurses and au pairs between them. They have drawn on the experience of hundreds of employers, nannies, training colleges and agencies to produce a unique reference book which aims principally to give parents comprehensive information about, and the confidence to cope with, the business of employing someone to care for their child in their home. To order the book: 

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