To think that complaining that your nanny refuses to be exploited is just not on?

[Bonsoir]

Yet another mother was ranting about her nanny and her "unreasonable demands" and how she was going to have to fire her and get another one.

Trouble is, it's same-old, same-old. There's a certain sort of French woman who thinks that a nanny is someone who must be available 24/7, 365 days a year but ought to be content to be paid EUR 10 cash per hour actually worked (hours to be determined at will and random on a day-by-day basis by employer).

Grrrrrrr.

It's the same the world over. We've lived on three continents and have seen exactly the same behaviour. Worst of all are the women who have never had any sort of help and when able to get some, really abuse it. Like another poster described, Sri Lankan and Indian maids in the emirates, Burmese and Laotian's in Thailand etc. Some people get a really over inflated sense of their own importance.

Oh it does not have to be overseas. A nanny friend of mine broke her leg on the weekend and her boss is refusing to give her time off (even though legally she is entitled to it) and is still making her work. Said nanny lives in so cannot escape at all. Oh and the mother keeps saying how difficult is is for her to have to do everything. Hmm stay at home mum with no job has a full time nanny and a cleaner. Boo hoo.

Family is English to the bone. Nanny is from New Zealand.

She's a SAHM and she's making the nanny work with a broken leg?

Oh yes. She is a delightful woman. She even once wanted the nanny to attend a function with her and pay for the babysitter. Wierd woman.

I knew a lady who fired her nanny for reading her hello magazine without her permission during a lunch break!

They're all over the world but I'll admit French families are particularly prone to owning the soul of their nanny... A particular sort of French family but I've interviewed with more families with that attitude who are French than pretty much every other nationality combined.

However the French treat every nationity like that, other countries seem to keep it for 'less worthy' nationalities. Families in Dubai for example treat their EMT nannies well but the Indian staff like dirt.

The problem is they'll always find someone to exploit :(

A nanny with a lunch break?

Having worked as a nanny in Paris and London, I know exactly what you mean, Bonsior.

French mothers have a totally different attitude to nannies than English mothers.

I couldn't believe it when I took my 2nd nanny job, in London, and realised English parents attitudes were quite different to those of French mothers. In England, nannies are treated with much more respect.

I found that parents who had had a nanny themselves as a child had a huge for nannies, be it theirs or someone else's.

We have a who tradition of qualified nannies in this countries, that just doesn't seem to exist elsewhere.

That was pretty much the attitude to Spanish women to their (usually Philipino) nannies too. TBH, I do think that attitude is less prevalent here in the UK, if only because childcare is much more expensive than abroad, and English nannies are quite common - in Spain, not one person I knew employed a Spanish person as domestic help. Plus nannying is seen here as a proper job, in Spain childcare was regarded as just part of the domestic duties, and the 'nanny's' first priority would be to clean and cook for the family. I had a nanny who 'just' looked after DD and I was regarded as a scandalously lax employer.

I think you come across as many neurotic rich English women as you do neurotic rich French women (or American women). Just depends which circles you mix in. I think if you hang around outside a certain kind of school, or in certain playgrounds, you can find this behaviour all over the world.

It's strange that depending on who you talk to, the word 'nanny' can mean highly trained child care worker or 'cleaner who is the designated adult in charge when I have gone out'.

Stupid question, but do they have nanny training colleges in other countries?

They do in Australia but it is not a huge industry. You would be hrd pressed to find a full time job in Australia. Most people want someone part time, abnd part time can be 3 hours a week!

Do you mean specialist nanny training, merrymouse? If so, NZ, Australia, Canada and America all have insitutions which train people as nannies but they don't necessarily offer a state accredited qualification alongside. A bit like getting the Norland certificate without your CACHE diploma or NVQ. There are also the state childcare qualifications counted as equivalent to an NNEB etc which can come from all over the world but IME unless you go to a specialist nanny training college those general childcare qualifications don't have the same amount of work on in-home childcare as British ones do. Most childcare students on a CACHE course here will do a placement with a family which is useful preparation for being a nanny regardless of which college they go to.

Thanks frakkin.

I think that the route of the problem is that in order to employ domestic staff you don't need to have demonstrated any people management skills, gone on any training courses or have any kind of ability at anything what so ever.

Add to this the fact that the employee usually won't have any co-workers and is likely to come from another country, and it isn't surprising that sometimes it's a bit of a toxic combination.