Training Your Nanny
Summer is here and may of you may be bringin on new help now that the kids will be out of scholl. But remember, Training a nanny is time consuming and tedious. Prepare to bring your patience and clear communication to the table. The key is to be observant, flexible and creative in finding solutions that work for you, your child and the nanny.
First, observe and decide what the most efficient communication tools will be. Initially, there will be more explaining and talking through little things. After you have established an understanding of one another, trust and routine will follow.
The basic information should be posted permanently at a visible place. For example, the numbers for the parents, pediatrician, veterinarian, next door neighbors, closest relatives, the local police station, after hour care at a local hospital, the poison control center, any medical specialists if applied and/or your school teachers are some of the info to include. These are good for yourselves, other care takers, and house guests.
It is important to make your basic ground rules clear at the beginning. Do you want your phone answered? What about the door? Is it ok for your nanny to watch TV, use the computer or read during down time? What about cell phones, messaging and personal calls? If your nanny takes the children out, where do you or don’t you want them to go? Is it ok if personal friends or families come visit your nanny during his or her work time? Is it ok for your nanny want to share her food with your children? Do you want to know if pictures are taken of your children?
If there are things you want to know about your children’s day, put them in a chart or list for the nanny to fill out. This will be a big time saver. Especially because you will probably have to train more than one or two nannies. For younger children or infants, you might want to know about the amount and timing of naps, food or fluid intake, special activities or outings, and maybe the overall mood of the day. For older kids, maybe time spent on homework, ball or piano practices, TV watching and such. It’s much easier for the caretaker to remember if you have it already printed out and they just need to fill in the blank. If there are certain things the nanny must do everyday, make a list for them. If you’d like, you can ask them to check the boxes when the tasks are done. This will come in handy for small children and special need children. If there’s a routine evolving bedtime, bath time, feeding time, diaper changing…, write it down and post it where the activity takes place. This make it easier for everyone to refer to and to remember by. These tools are handy to keep other adults in the household up to speed as well.
Keeping a notebook as a communicating log is great. Any special instruction of the day or things your nanny wanted to tell you can all be recorded. So many times I come home at the end of the day and the nanny flies right out the door, many things are missed that way. Especially when the kids were young, when they started walking or doing things for the first time. It’s good for the nanny to record those.
Often times, there may be some language barrier. If that’s the case, planning ahead and writing things down will be very helpful. All the tools above will make things easy for both sides. If you have a busy morning, take the time to write down special information or instructions for the day.
Last bid of advice, take it one day at a time. Be organized, don’t overwhelm yourself or the nanny right off the bat. Give enough information for the day and build your relationship one day at a time. I’ve had a few nannies leave for various reasons after a few days or weeks. Don’t be discouraged if things don’t work out. Nanny is a very personal position to fill and it take time to find the right fit.
We’ve become close friends with our nannies. Special bonds often happen between the parents and the nannies. After all, they are helping us care for our most precious children. As always, good luck and good training.
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