Both parents and nannies should ensure that every applicant or job they interview for meets their basic requirements. Also, it’s essential that regardless of how good things look on paper, the family and the nanny is a successful match. While clear expectations, a solid work agreement and defined job description all help make a match work out, long-term successful matches share four common factors:
1. Ability to Communicate.
Nannies and parents must be able to effectively communicate for the relationship to succeed. The ability to engage in open and honest communication, being approachable and being receptive are key in determining how long a match will last. Nannies and parents often have to communicate about difficult topics. If there isn’t a strong communication foundation in place, those tough conversations can be impossible to have.
2. Mutual Respect.
Parents and nannies don’t have to be the same, but they do have to respect each other. Nannies and parents must respect the ideas, beliefs, and behaviors of each other for the relationship to succeed. A nanny’s lack of acceptance of family culture may lead to a lack of respect. Without mutual respect, the nanny and parent relationship will fail.
3. Personality Match.
For example, if parents prefer a quiet morning routine that consists of a slow roll out of bed while hanging with the kids in their PJs, sipping their coffee while listening to classical music, chances are a nanny that comes rushing in like a storm isn’t going to kick the morning off to the right start. If a nanny works better in an environment where the parents micromanage and they prefer a nanny who takes initiative, there’s going to be a lot of frustration going around.
4. Shared Philosophies.
While parents and nannies don’t need to be philosophical clones, when there is shared common ground, the nanny becomes a successful match. Being on the same page when it comes to how to approach child rearing and discipline, how the children’s moral compass will point, and the world view the children will be raised with certainly makes working together long-term easier than if not. When the nanny and parents aren’t in moral alignment, the relationship can become strained.
SOURCE: Morningside Nannies
