First class travel, luxury villa vacations, VIP access to great restaurants, museums and theatres, face-to-face with celebrities... The children of wealthy families have it all, and so do their nannies! On the surface, this seems to be an ideal job to dream of, but there are also many regrets and helplessness behind the glamorousness.
1. The nanny will encounter strange things during the interview.
Usually, nannies are hired through agencies, but there are wealthy moms and dads who can't find the most suitable person among the many candidates — because they are too demanding and demanding. Some families even hire a lot of nannies at once in order to be admitted on a merit-based basis, because salaries are not an issue. In any case, during the interview process, candidate nannies may be asked tricky questions.
Saw a recruitment message, the care object is a 3-year-old boy, but also the only child in the family, the mother divorced, living with the grandmother, the salary is quite high. I didn't have to think about it a lot, and I went to the interview for a high salary. At first everything went well, and then they started asking me strange questions like, "How would you react if someone yelled at you?" "If you were scolded, would you fall in love?" "Are you resilient to pressure?" Does an insult make you cry? ”
I applied for a vacancy on a well-known recruitment website because I was looking for a job as an au pair. When they called me, I wasn't ready to talk about regular questions like age and experience when I was suddenly asked a completely different question, "What is your zodiac sign?" When I answered that it was Virgo, they said, "I'm sorry, we're looking for Capricorn or Leo."
2. After being hired by a wealthy family, the quality of life of most nannies is significantly improved.
California Beach, former nanny of Spice Girls group member Mel B
Nannies who work in wealthy families often earn money while traveling, because nannies can go with their masters to many places that are mysterious and cannot be imagined even in dreams and can never afford to pay. It is also possible for nannies to stay at home with their children when the rich are out, as parents want to be alone while ensuring that children are safe, happy and cared for. In everyday life, the nanny usually has access to all the facilities of the house.
I have a degree in psychology, work 6 days a week, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. when the kids are in school), earn a very decent income, and get doubled in overtime and during travel. My salary includes three meals, a separate room, access to the swimming pool, gym and maid service. The host family was polite and I appreciated it psychologically.
I work as a nanny in a very wealthy family. In the summer, they live on a huge yacht and eat French meals every day. I work shifts: 3 weeks at home in the Seychelles, 3 weeks back to my own home. Once back in my own home, I was depressed and wanted to return to the azure sea sooner, because the yacht's ceiling was higher than my house. Lately, though, I've always felt like I'm living someone else's life. I wanted to quit thinking about it, but couldn't – I was already addicted to this wonderful lifestyle.
3, however, it is difficult for nannies to enjoy all the life of the rich and have to give up their private lives.
Many nannies have to work regularly until late at night and need to travel with their hosts for weeks. For a nanny, it really can't be called a holiday, because you have to stay with your children all the time. The nanny can't turn off the phone because the parents may call at any time at 2 a.m., which is nothing unusual.
Stills from the documentary "Local Tycoons Don't Know How to Be Parents"
I'm a live-in nanny and have to get up at 6:30 in the morning, start cleaning, have breakfast there, get the kids ready for school, clean the house, tutor the kids, have dinner with them, and then play with the kids and do bedtime routines. By then, I was exhausted, so all my free time was spent sleeping. Work for 16 hours and then go to sleep upside down. I simply don't have much of a personal life! They would prescribe what I would wear at work, and they bought me three grandmother-style floral shirts, three pairs of mom jeans and two pairs of khaki leggings for me to wear at home. They would eavesdrop on my boyfriend's phone conversations and even follow me to the backyard when we wanted to say something private
3. Nannies have different attitudes towards themselves and their work
In the world of the rich, there is no price for all commodities, and even a nanny who has just graduated from college has a starting salary that is in most cases much higher than the average salary in the market. But sometimes, employers treat the nanny with a condescending attitude. For example, it often happens that the host family travels in first class on the plane, while the nanny can only fly in economy class. Therefore, she is not allowed to take care of the children back and forth. Even, the host asked the nanny to go to the cheap supermarket to buy food, while the host family feasted in the luxury restaurant.
I have a degree in education, studied ballet for 10 years, graduated from music and art school, and am currently a live-in nanny, but not only to take care of children, but also to raise and develop extra skills for children. I dance with my children, do stretching exercises, teach them to draw, develop their musical tastes, teach them piano according to my daily duties, check their homework, etc. I take a day off a week.
My day starts at 7 a.m. and ends after the kids go to bed, usually at 9:30 p.m. It's hard work, but my salary is high. At the same time, my relatives and friends like to say, "Oh, you're so lucky to have an easy job." "Why do they pay you so much?" Maybe, I should also become a nanny? Or"Can you stay with my kids for a week?" You are an au pair and what is the difference between you taking care of 2 or 3 children?" I love the job, but I hate that attitude.
I'm not respected by any super-rich family who live in their own circles and nannies are just ordinary people with a job.
I worked in a very wealthy family and when I was going to have lunch with the kids, they told me to eat only in the kitchen and soon I quit.
Some people pay a lot and don't care, just to show off in front of their friends. Like, look at our ability to have an au pair. In one of the big houses lived a very strange wife. Sometimes, when I go to work, she might say, "We don't need you today, it's a $100 salary for you, go home and rest." "Once, the host asked me to sort out the toys, and when we entered a large room on the third floor of their house, turned on the lights and I saw that the whole room was piled up with new toys, boxes full of toys from the floor to the ceiling, and we couldn't even enter the room normally.
5) The nanny should be educated and always know what to say to parents and children.
Au pairs require a college or university degree, and some even have an Oxford or Cambridge university degree, but still need some additional skills, such as basic pediatrics, speaking a foreign language and toilet training. Having the ability to do these things can help you avoid an au pair arguing with your parents in unusual situations, but it's not easy to prepare your kids for their problems.
I remember one day I was spying on the kids by the pool—two boys and two or three classmates coming to play together. They stayed in the pool for 20 minutes, and even though I tried to change the subject, the kids kept bragging to their friends about family-owned luxury cars, ancestral properties, relatives' private jets, their own beach clubs, and so on. Kids attending parties are often provoked to call their parents quickly so they can leave early. Fast forward to an hour or two later, and one of the boys came home crying upstairs because his friend had an elevator at home and his own home didn't. He asked me in tears if he was a poor kid, but he actually lived in a multimillion-dollar house with no idea of money.
When I was a student, I worked as a nanny for a few years in a wealthy family. Once, I went to pick up the second-grader at school and quickly saw that something was wrong. Finally, he whispered mysteriously, "Can you imagine?" Peter in my class was not born to his parents, but was brought by a stork! "It seems that the parents' preschool education is a typical failure.
I am an au pair and take care of two boys (3 and 6 years old). Once, my brother asked me, "Is there the biggest number in the world?" I replied, "No, because there's always a number bigger than it." That's why the title says that from 1 to ∞. Then the boy asked another question: "What's after infinity?" I was stunned by a 6 year old's question and I said I didn't know. He looked at me thoughtfully and said, "I want to be after the first infinity, there's another infinity, then the third infinity, and so on, until the infinite infinity..." It seems that I am taking care of the second Einstein.
6) The babysitter should know that there may be cameras monitoring her.
For the home and yard full of cameras, the nanny should not be surprised. Parents want to control the whole process and have the opportunity to watch the video if something goes wrong. Usually, employers warn the nanny in advance to pay attention to the camera.
7) Rich families have different attitudes towards money.
Some millionaires earn their wealth themselves, so they are very budget-conscious and know how to spend it. But some people are born rich and can be very wasteful.
My employer, despite being wealthy, is very budget-conscious, often attends promotions and buys discounted goods, but is very doting on children, and several times I wake up with text messages saying that I can take paid vacation today because the weather is good, parents take their children to the lake alone, usually they prefer to go to school to pick up their children themselves, so that they can enjoy a happy day of life, and I miss that family very much.
I work for a profligate family. The man bought a $500 rocking chair, and because the color matching with other furniture was not right, the hostess threw it in the trash and went to buy a new one.
A wealthy couple, most of that wealth was inherited, and the father was a lawyer, but it was a job he didn't have to show up or do a lot of work, and the company paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Every day, the wife goes to work and the husband stays alone in a room that does not allow anyone to disturb. He didn't do anything all day and didn't want his kids to know and bother him, so he locked himself up and pretended he was still in college or something, and paid to hire a nanny to help him raise his children. But, the couple is definitely good to them all. But I would never respect a man who has all the time and money in the world, who uses that time and money to stay away from his own children and watch movies all day.
8, the father and mother will also be jealous of the nanny
Today's families attach great importance to the affection of mothers (fathers) and children, and social reality requires parents to earn money to maintain family living standards, so there are contradictions between society and family in the hearts of parents, and the two cannot be combined. As a nanny, you enjoy the family affection with the children, and as a biological parent and a nanny, it is only a simple hiring and hired money relationship, and it is difficult to have a deep emotional flow between the two, so the biological parents will also eat the vinegar of the nanny. In order to avoid this social phenomenon, many families have begun to hire foreign nannies, and even become a fashion, for the simple reason that foreign nannies and children have different languages and cannot communicate in depth, thus avoiding nannies from snatching love.
It is not the nanny's fault that parents are jealous of the nanny because they cannot spend all day with their children, and any resentment towards the nanny is unfair. As long as the parents respect the nanny and do not try to destroy the relationship between the nanny and the child, all misunderstandings will gradually disappear.
Children and nannies often become very close, which leads to the child's emotional estrangement from the parents, and jealousy and resentment gradually spread, as parents want to be the child's best friend and lifelong guide. Therefore, it is difficult for parents to accept that their children are empathetic to the nanny, even if the nanny is an important supplement to their children's daily life, everything is difficult.
I have a female friend who is well educated, highly responsible for the local community, and her husband is nice, smart, and very well paid. An ambitious dream couple. But when she saw the nanny having fun with the kids and eating ice cream together, she began to think deeply, and later quit her job to become a full-time housewife, and is now very satisfied with the joy of heaven.
9, the nanny must learn to be invisible.
Singer Gwen Stephanie and the big kids walk in the front row, and her former nanny Mindy Mann and Little Baby walk in the back row.
Nannies who work for rich families are like agents. You won't find them in official photos and you'll never find any information about them. Celebrities want others to think they're taking care of their children. When a celebrity shows up with well-dressed, well-behaved children, you shouldn't forget that the "creator" of this success is a nanny who hides 20 steps behind him and is good at dodging paparazzi shots.
Heidi Krum with kids and babysitter
10. Nannies should keep secrets.
Babysitter holding Uma Thurman's child
Often, nannies have strict confidentiality agreements with their families, so they feel lonely and isolated, in exactly the same way celebrities think.
Wealthy nannies are the same as regular nannies, but there are some key differences, and in addition to the standard employment contract, your parents may also ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement.
I work for a wealthy family, I have to sign a bunch of abstentions before work, and my colleagues have to observe a lot of confidentiality: for example, you can't take your children to the park. Can't walk the main entrance can only leave the house from the garage, can't use the phone or laptop in the house. They kept all the windows in their house closed. I mean, they meant it well and the pay was good, but it was a stressful environment.
11. A small problem in wage settlement.
Usually, the two parties agree on salary and settlement during the interview. Wages can be hourly wages or monthly wages, and the responsibilities and rights of both parties are agreed upon by contract, but this is not the case.
In terms of rest time, the average family is much more generous, and after an hour of continuous child support, there is always a moment of rest. The rich family was upset whenever they saw me resting, and complained about the previous housekeepers and nannies, commenting that they were good at eating and lazy, and receiving a lot of wages.
In terms of attitudes towards money, the super-rich are very picky when it comes to shopping, spending thousands of dollars on a plane ticket to the Bahamas? Of course, no problem. However, when they're on vacation (which is very common), they usually find all sorts of reasons to refuse to pay my insignificant wages, insisting that I'm not worth it. In line with this, middle-class families have always been keen to donate old toys and books, while wealthy families have people carry a dumpster to their driveway and pile up toys/books/clothes for me to throw away.
My sister worked as a nanny at the home of a famous Hollywood actress, and she was asked to take care of the children for 12-13 hours continuously (the contract time was 8 hours a day). By the end of the month, she had accumulated more than 50 hours of overtime, but she could not get a penny of overtime pay.
12 Many nannies feel sorry for the children they take care of.
Some people say that the job of a nanny is to help parents forget that they have children. Despite a carefree life, children with wealthy parents often do not receive parental love because the parents delegate this responsibility to the nanny, so the nanny sometimes becomes a substitute parent and makes important decisions throughout the child's life, such as health and education.
I promised to work for a young woman, and I noticed that her son looked weird. He was so skinny that he didn't dare make any sound. Moms often put their children on their knees, sit quietly for 5 minutes, and then ask me, "When do you think he'll open his mouth?" I would be very angry and reply, "Never!" Because you never talk to him. ”
I worked as a nanny for a rich man. Basically, I arrived at 7 a.m. every morning and my parents didn't come home until 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. During this time, I was responsible for waking them up, feeding them, taking them to dance classes, picking them up, bathing them... All the more. When the children took dance lessons, their parents were very generous, and while waiting for the girls, they paid me to go to the movies or have a manicure, so to speak, I raised these children.
Lack of connection in parent-child relationships. For example, Mom doesn't know when ballet and tennis start, and I do. Children often confide in me, and when I mentioned it to my mother, my parents were surprised to find that children were not always happy, although they had rich fathers and rich mothers who did not lack money, and there must be something missing here, and they could see it at a glance. The 3-year-old said he slipped up and often called me "Mom", which broke my heart, after all, when other people's children.
Being born rich or working hard isn't a crime, but if you don't have a place in your life for children, it's a disaster. If you're not around, why do you need them? In 99.99% of cases, children raised by nannies face serious psychological problems. This child will grow up feeling that no one loves him and will have serious trust problems. They'll think, "The au pair cares about me just because my parents pay her and they don't want to find a place for me in their schedule." ”