Ask for a good babysitter

How to find a good nanny for a child?

Children always need a lot of time and attention. And parents are not always able to satisfy this need of theirs. The desire to return to an active lifestyle, the desire to continue to build a career or study, simply the need to have more time for yourself - all these are good reasons to find a nanny. Each family may have their own requirements for a nanny, but the bottom line is always the same — to find someone who would care about the child and give it all the attention it needs.

What criteria should be paid attention to in order to find a babysitter?

Today, you can easily find many offers from women who build their careers on childcare. Among them there will be professional teachers who specialize in the development of preschoolers, psychologists, doctors, and representatives of other professions somehow related to children. There are also babysitters without specialized education, who are usually cheaper. You can easily find a nanny in Kyiv or elsewhere in Ukraine. Which option is better to give preference to?

Age

Yulia hired a nanny who was a professional teacher, had thirty years of experience working with children and could provide many positive recommendations to confirm her qualifications. Very soon Yulia faced a problem - the nanny refused to listen to her and insisted that she knew better how to take care of the child.

Most experts agree that a nanny should not be younger than 35 years old. It is believed that such nannies are much more experienced and more responsible than young ones.

On the other hand, elderly babysitters can sometimes find it difficult to cope with a restless baby. In addition, they usually have their own views on raising a child, which often differ from the views of the mother.

There is also an opinion that the nanny should not be older than the child's mother in terms of age, otherwise it will be difficult for them to build a business relationship. However, the truth is that conflicts are possible with a nanny of any age. And therefore, when choosing a nanny based on this criterion, it is better to start from your own thoughts and wishes.

Education

Already a month after the birth of the child, Olga was killing herself in the search period - to find a nanny in Lviv. Almost immediately, an offer from a woman who previously worked as a massage therapist at a children's clinic caught her eye. When meeting the child for the first time, the future nanny noticed that the child was developing a torticollis. After getting to work, she quickly fixed the problem with massages and various water exercises.

If you are looking to find a babysitter with a specialized education, then start from the age of the child you are hiring her for:

• for a baby, it is best to invite a nanny-nurse or a person with a medical education;
• it is important to engage with preschoolers, develop them and spend time playing games together, therefore, nannies-educators and children's teachers are ideal for children from 2 to 6 years old;
• but for schoolchildren, nannies-teachers and child psychologists are most often hired.

Nature

Always a cheerful, friendly woman with a wide smile was known by all mothers who brought their children to the playground. She treated the girl, whom she took out for a walk every day, with boundless love and patience. Local mothers tried to guess who the child was. And they were very surprised when they found out that this gentle and loving woman is a nanny.

The nanny's character traits are no less important than her education. If she is too sensitive and tends to be offended, then she simply cannot cope with an active child. And a strict and always confident nanny will either oppress the child or constantly conflict with her. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to the following points when meeting a nanny for the first time:

• how the nanny behaves with the children. It is not desirable that she immediately tries to teach and educate them. Her tendency to irritability should also be a wake-up call. It is better to give preference to a nanny who genuinely loves children and enjoys communicating with them.
• on the nanny's life circumstances. If she is going through a difficult period, it will affect the child in one way or another. In addition, such a nanny most likely went to work because of difficult circumstances, and not because of a desire to work with children.

Language knowledge

The family, in which the boys Artur and Ruslan grew up, planned to one day move to Germany. The children were first sent to a kindergarten, whose teachers spoke German. And then, on weekends, they started inviting a babysitter with knowledge of German. It was thanks to the nanny that the boys were able to significantly improve their conversational level. Neither kindergarten nor classes with tutors gave such a noticeable result.

If the baby is still very small, then the nanny's knowledge of other languages ​​is not a prerequisite. But for a preschooler or a schoolboy, it really makes sense to look for a babysitter who speaks the foreign language that the child's parents emphasize learning.

What should be included in the duties of a nanny?

The range of responsibilities of a nanny may differ from case to case. Therefore, parents usually discuss them with the babysitter candidate in advance. As a rule, a nanny takes care of the child, takes care of him, feeds him, washes him and puts him to bed.

Sometimes this list also additionally includes games with the baby and developmental activities.

A babysitter with a medical education can massage a child and help him with health problems. It is important to make a list of what you expect from her at the stage of looking for a nanny. This will help avoid possible misunderstandings in the future.

babysitting schedule

There are several options for organizing the nanny's schedule. The starting point should be the workload of the parents, the age of the child and personal wishes.

• A full day. Suitable for those parents who work a full 8 hours a day or have a non-standard schedule. The nanny comes in the morning and works with the child until the evening. The working day of a full-time nanny is usually 8 to 12 hours. It works a total of 5 days a week, although other options are possible. Sometimes the responsibilities of such a nanny also include taking care of the house.
• Daily This option will be convenient for parents who work in shifts or just periodically go on business trips. In this case, the nanny's working day should be determined in advance. Sometimes 2 or 3 nannies are hired so that they can work in shifts and rest.
• For a few hours. Sometimes the services of a nanny are needed irregularly and for a short time. For example, if parents need to spend some time together or if work requires their periodic, but not systematic, absence.
• Evening nanny. If the parents return from work too late, the nanny should pick up the child from kindergarten, feed him dinner and play with him.
• Live-in nanny. This is one of the most difficult options, because the nanny lives in the family all the time. She is allocated a bed or even a separate room for this purpose. Such a nanny is expensive, but she looks after the child around the clock. Choosing a live-in nanny should be approached with special responsibility, because for some time she becomes a full-fledged member of the family.

The main qualities of a good nanny are professionalism, love for children and a firm decision to devote one's life to this profession. If you manage to find such a person, then you can be sure that your child is in safe hands.