I am a nanny for “VIP families” ask me anything

[nannyofcelebrities]

Name changed for obvious reasons, and while I obviously can’t give identifiable details as to who I work for or I have worked for, I am happy to answer any question anyone might have about what nannying for so called “VIP families” is like in general etc…

Are you trained in Thrive or anything similar?

Are you British? Do you live in?

Do they have bodyguards?

What's the pay like?

Thank you OP, looking forward to this thread.

Do they have a team of nannies, and if so how does that work?

UHNW or regular celebs, like TV people or captains of industry

Do you discipline the children or just let them behave how they like?

How VIP are we talking? CEOs, household names, aristocracy, all of the above?

How likely are any of the parents/ employers to do their own housework?

Do they have staff that do everything for them, or will they do a load of their own laundry if they need it, or empty the dishwasher etc?

Do you find that the parents have a close relationship with their DC?

Didn’t expect so many questions in such a short amount of time at this time of the evening so, to answer most questions.

by VIP I genuinely mean all kind as I have worked with all kind of extremely wealthy families, from aristocracy, to CEOs/billionaires and household names… as well as people known for the industry they work in (TV/Music/Sports/Politics).

Each family is different so some do have bodyguards, many do not, some have teams of Nannies, some only have one. Most have staff, some a huge amount others just a cleaning lady + a nanny, others none at all (minus me). So there is no rule when it comes to staff.

I would say most have staff but things like having a chef or body guards or a driver is really family specific and I would say 99.9% do have a cleaning lady (or multiple) and usually don’t worry about cleaning, a fair amount have a chef also but yet many families still cook a fair amount of their own meals, most drive themselves places and only use drivers for certain things etc… I would say the two type of staff none of them go without are cleaning staff and Nannies, everything else beyond that depend on the family and how much they enjoy having people in their own space and how many and who enjoys their independence and not having staff others than what’s absolutely needed.

Most will of course yes, cook and empty the dishwasher if they need to (some do so either way)s I am sure some won’t ever but the great majority would step in if needed they just enjoy not having to.

I live in yes, the pay also varies from family to family and based on the requirement of each family and where the job is located but usually most Nannies at that level do make 6 figures.

I do not let the children do whatever they want and wouldn’t work for a family who wishes for that. I believe kids need to be taught to live in society and ought to be as respectful to others as people are to them. I am especially strict about this because they live in an environment with a lot of staff and a lot of money and so it’s paramount for me that they are appreciative of the work people do for them and are respectful to both others and their environment. Most families support that. I am personally not impressed by any family’s wealth and wouldn’t want to work in a family or with kids where the idea is that money absolves you from being a decent and kind human being.

Do the families by you expensive birthday or Christmas gifts?

I know someone who is a teaching assistant in the nursery class of a VV expensive primary school. For Christmas she got, amongst other gifts, a Mulberry Monopoly game (sells for about £250 on eBay).

It depends on the family and the parents. Some parents are very hand on others more feel like by paying a lot of money to have the care of their kid taken care of 24/7 that it means they are doing the best they can and completely dismiss the fact that no nanny (irrelevant of who and how great they are) can replace parents actually parenting and spending quality time with their kids. So some families have a close bond with their kids and I would say all families love their kids and of course all kids love their parents; but some parents do spend extremely low amount of time with their kids so it’s hard to qualify their relationship as “close”. It’s people who’ve been in their life since birth or since the womb but it’s often not the people they see the most and sometimes are the people they see the least so it’s complicated and I would even say it’s the hardest part of my job, trying to create a close relationship between the kid(s) and parents who sometimes don’t really have much time to spare or spend with them and who rarely are part of their actual routine etc…

Hmm depends. I would say that most of the time, no. They don’t gift me Louis Vuitton bag or things like that (I know some families do), they might give me a cash bonus and often will give me a token gift but I haven’t really gotten an outrageous gift of any kind and sometimes I don’t get a gift at all either.

What’s the worst behaviour you’ve ever seen? (I mean from the adults!).

What are the best and worst aspects of the job?
(Thank you for starting this, I too look forward to learning more).

Ugh.

Mainly people thinking their money matter more than it does, leading them to be extremely rude to staff (not just their own, often in places they visit) the point of being completely embarrassing.

in reality what happens is that those people lack complete respect from everyone because it’s impossible to respect people who behave that way. So the worst kind of behaviors I have seen are people belittling staff, yelling at them for the smallest reason, name dropping to impress or try and get out of situation.

I don’t know personally I find it both embarrassing and irritating/appalling in equal measure.

I am very strict about who I work with though so tend to screen for personality and do tend to jump ship when I end up in families of this kind as nobody needs that kind of negative energy in their life and in their work place.

100k?!?!?! Wow. I didn't realise it was si much. (But completely get if you had money and you want your kids well looked after etc.) Most people think of childcare as quite poorly paid. Presumably these nannies don't do a course at the local college and "work up" but already come from wealthy backgrounds themselves/know how to handle themselves in that world etc?

I'm fascinated but the parents that don't see their kids much - is it like a 20min bedtime story or a chat on a Sunday or "Oh look there's your dad coming home give him a kidd before bed".

It's such a huge job to literally bring up their kids isn't it!

Do they then gk to boarding school? Do they stop the nanny then?

I'm going to love this thread as I'm fascinated!!

Do the kids stop having nannies at a certain age and then go to boarding school. What's the eldest you've nannied for?

Is it difficult moving on in situations where you are basically the default parent.

What happens if a child has a nightmare and is upset in the night? Do you sit beside their bed, cuddle them back to sleep etc?

Do you travel on holiday with your families and how does that work?

1- The kids (they are the main reason I do this job, and obviously didn’t start working for who I currently work for so kids were and have always been my main motivation to stick to this career path), and 2- the salary/travel opportunities.

The hardest part is the schedule, I work 24 hours shift, basically have no life most of the time (I have been adjusting over the last few years my work life so it’s now a bit more balanced but at this level most people expect complete availability and flexibility) and the lack of freedom. Often I feel stuck in a golden cage and miss working for families where I can just organize my day and head to the park without 100 checks in place or rules or bodyguards etc…

Have you gone on any trips abroad with the families?

How did you come to be a VIP nanny? Do you have any specific qualifications? Did you start off nannying for regular families and work your way up? How many years of nannying did it take to start working with VIPs and how long have you been doing it for now? What’s your (rough) age, I sort of imagine that the rich/ famous would employ older nannies but don’t know if that’s actually true! Do you work through an agency or do you get employed through word of mouth etc?