Today I have a guest post from the lovely Cristy of HappyFamilyBlog.com on the topic of hiring a nanny.
This is part of a series I am doing on child care and nannies. If you are a blogger and would like to guest post here on this topic, let me know.
5 Things to Do When Hiring a Nanny
I remember before our daughter was born, the thing I was most worried about was child care. Everywhere we went I would think “ok when we have a child, where would they be?” I loved my career so the idea of being a full-time stay at home mom at the time was not an option. When I was a kid we had nannies from England. So I tracked down one of my favorite nannies from childhood. Unfortunately, the school where all of our nannies had their training is no longer in business. So I went to my friends to try and friend a nanny recommendation. I received a couple of recommendations, but none of them panned out. So I went to care.com, which worked for us. We had a rough go with finding childcare so when I saw Julie’s tweet that she is looking for guest bloggers for her series on childcare I knew I wanted to share our tips.
- Use Standard Interview Questions – Use the standard questions and an application for all applicants. You can download the questions that we used. Feel free to use these or add additional questions. Download Cristy’s Nanny Interview Questions from the Fab resource Library when you subscribe.
- Background Check – Even if someone comes highly recommended by a friend do a background check. We were about to hire a nanny who came highly recommended by two friends. We were shocked when her background check came back with arrests including resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. When I called to let her know we were moving in a different direction she asked why. I guess she assumed we would not do a background check.
- Check References – Call and check all references. If something feels off trust your gut.
- Buy and Use Cameras – We use Drop Cam* and I would highly recommend them. They allow you to watch and listen to what is going on in your home from your phone, iPad or any device that has access to the internet. We hired a nanny who came with good references and yet when I watched her on camera I found she was lying to me. It was about little things like what she did with our daughter during the day little things. My gut told me if you would lie to me about reading a book to my daughter what else would you lie to me about. That was last day she worked for us.
- Ask for a Daily Write–up – Depending on the child’s age this should include what time they ate, went to the restroom, napped and any activities. I was surprised that some people were not open to doing a daily write-up.
Any tips that we missed?
Download Cristy’s Nanny Interview Questions and more from my Working Mom Tribe resource library!
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About:
Hi, I’m Cristy, a wife, mom to an adorable toddler, friend, sister, daughter, Junior Leaguer, water lover and world traveler. Happy Family is my journey through motherhood where I share my experiences so I can connect to other parents and give back similar to other bloggers have done for me. I am passionate about my family, friends, party planning, traveling, crafting, home décor, celebrating and organizing.
Thanks, Cristy! Glad to share these great tips with everyone. I definitely agree with these tips. I shared our own list of nanny interview questions earlier (with a printable) and I completely agree that preparing a list of questions and topics to facilitate the interview is very important. Having a daily log allows us to keep tabs on what the nanny is doing in addition to knowing how the baby’s day went. It helps to know what he ate throughout the day so I know what to feed him for dinner. I also love using my nanny cam – we use the D-Link pan and tilt camera* and I can check in on him during the day. This was especially important while I was breastfeeding and pumping at work.
P.S. If you are looking at hiring a nanny, I have prepared a Nanny Contract Template to help you hire your own nanny.
Read other posts from this child care and nanny series.
Sandy Sandmeyer says
These are really great ideas that I would have never thought of had I been hiring a nanny. Thanks for sharing your post at the Over the Moon Link Party.
Brandyn says
Great tips! I’ll have to keep them in mind if I’m ever in need of searching for childcare again!
Thank you for sharing with us at #MommyMeetupMondays!
lana says
Sometimes I feel like we’re tougher on care-givers than we would be on ourselves. I mean, I probably would have fired myself for lack of interaction and sometimes not knowing the heck I was doing!
Julie says
I agree, I think we are tougher on caregivers, but part of it is we are paying them to do a job, we expect it to be done professionally and to know more than us amateurs heh.
Erin @ Stay At Home Yogi says
This is such great advice! I love the background check tip – so important!
Julie says
Definitely important to do a background check, especially if someone is going to live with you. We did a credit/tenant screening for the ladies we considered.
Samantha says
A daily write-up is a great idea! I’m such a stickler for routines and schedules (a bit of a control freak), so as a parent that would really be reassuring for me! Plus, it would be nice to see how my children spent their day. 🙂
Julie says
I’m horrible about routines and schedules since life doesn’t want to follow it anyway – and neither does my baby. But knowing how often he ate, especially when the last feeding and diaper change was, helps me plan out my evening 🙂
Healing Mama says
I love the camera idea, and it’s great you can use it from your phone!
Julie says
I love being able to check in on him and see him nap or run around 🙂