I thought it would be fun to apply for a part time position as a professional Nanny. Since my other jobs include office and administrative duties, I thought working with children would give my life a nice balance. Here is the best (or should I say worst) of the responses I received.
I received an email from a woman who said that I appeared to be the most professional Nanny from the description in my ad. (Thank-you for the compliment.) When I called her to discuss her needs, she went into a long story about how her son’s preschool had the nerve to close the school for a week…again! She needed someone to be at her home at 7:30 A.M. and stay with her son until 5:30. (10 hours a day…I could handle that for a week) I could hear her son screaming in the background. “He’s a little challenging” she said. (A little?) After she finished talking , I asked her what she was offering for salary. She paused and replied, “Well, I thought $25 a day would be fair!”
A woman called me about her 3 small children who needed care three days a week. She fully expected the Nanny to do all the chores (laundry, vacuuming dusting, cooking) in her free time. The pay she was offering was $30 per day. Oh and yes…It was another 10 hour day.
A Father emailed me about being a Nanny to a newborn which included doing some cooking and laundry. He wanted to know if I would consider bartering some of my services. (His wife was in an alternative healing field.) I found this one odd …Would you suggest bartering to an office worker or a food server?
What really bothers me is how little money these parents believed a Nanny deserves to take care of their children. All of these parents obviously have decent paying jobs which makes it possible to have someone come to their home rather than place them in a group day care situation. The salaries most of them were offering were insulting and according to minimum wage laws…illegal!
I loved parenting my four children. I put in 18 hour days and worked very hard making sure all their needs were met. I considered myself a professional in my line of work!
There’s an old saying…”You get what you pay for!”
