BY JENNIFER STEIL, Reader's Digest
What it's really like to care for your rugrats (and work for you!).
Being a nanny is a profession
Please treat me as you would other professionals.
Don’t tell me that I am part of your family and then ask me to work overtime
Just because I work in your home doesn’t make me part of the family. I deserve basic rights, such as sick time, holidays, and at least a day off a week.
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Live-in nannies need a room of their own
Some couples actually expect me to share a room with their baby—or worse, to share a bedroom with their child.
I'm a nanny, not a housekeeper
Sometimes I clean parts of your home because I simply cannot stand the filth. Find out the 38 secrets your housecleaner wants you to know.
If your child bites me, don’t reward her
One parent actually said “Oh honey, are you hungry?” to her child while ignoring my bleeding face. Here's how to deal with the brattiest kid behaviors.
I have my own family
Many of us have kids of our own. We’d like to see them, but we need vacation time.
It's appalling how much junk you feed your kids
[post_ads]Seriously—give them veggies once in awhile! If you don’t keep junk food in your house, your kids can’t eat it. You can give them choices without destroying their health. Find out the toxic things you didn't know you were feeding your children.
Don’t come home drunk in the middle of the night...
... Wake up your children to play with them, and then wake me up to put them back to bed. And this should go without saying, but don’t do drugs if you’re going to be around kids, period. And don’t wake me up in the middle of the night just because you’ve partied too hard to care for your own children.
Nannies from other cultures need orientation
Tell me which foods are fancy gourmet foods to be used sparingly and which are everyday foods. I kept eating up the best caviar and spitting it out in the trash, thinking it had gone bad.
I'm not paid well enough to be a substitute parent for your child all the time
If you do not have the time or patience to raise a child, don’t have one.
Pay us well
Value your child a little more and cut corners elsewhere.
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Don't misrepresent yourself to an agency
If you don’t have an extra room for the nanny, say so. Don’t claim to have a bedroom and bathroom for her, and then ask her to sleep with your child.
Treat your nanny with respect and as an equal, and you will have a loyal friend for life
Most of us become lifelong friends of the babies we helped raise, as well as their parents.
Next, find out 33 secrets your child's teacher won't tell you.
