Is DD qualified enough to be a nanny?

[watermelon12]

DD (18) is thinking about attempting to get a nannying role, however I don't think she has the right qualifications/experience. Not sure if she would be better off looking at a different job - opinions welcome.

She is:

• first aid/CPR qualified
• qualified as a children's swimming instructor
• worked as a helper at an after school club (tutoring type rather than fun based) for about a year
• has volunteered (but only quite occasionally) at holiday club
• has done some (again occasional) baby sitting for neighbours etc

She doesn't have any experience working within private home (other than occasional baby sitting and doesn't have any formal teaching/childcare qualifications.

Would you consider hiring someone with this experience (and if so, on what wage?) or not/only as an Au Pair?

We've had several Nannies.. live in and out.

I looked for experience, ability to connect with our children and temperament over formal qualifications.

I think it would depend on the ages of children she'd be looking at caring for but I'd probably be concerned that she doesn't have much / any experience of being alone, for longer periods with small children.. perhaps a mothers help type role would be better for her as a starting point or a role with older children. These can still be pretty well paid, particularly for city type roles.

Pay really depends on where you're located - take a look at nannyjob.co.uk - lots of jobs posted on here - and you can get a sense of pay for different 'types' of nanny roles.

Hope that helps a bit!

Just going from my experience and it might depend on area etc but I have 10 years experience in childcare, level 3 qualification, first aid, further qualifications and I found it very difficult to get a nannying position.
I am right next to the Norland college, if that's local to you and DD wants to persue a nannying career it might be an option ?

If this is what's she wants to do as a career then advise doing a childcare course

She may be lucky and get a mother help role - likely to be on nmw - then gain exp

But so many qual nannies out there hard to break into nannying without a qual

What country? In most countries nannies don't have to meet set requirements but many countries now have childcare funding schemes that do impose minimum criteria.

Some formal childcare training suitable for the country in which she wishes to work would be suggested.

Agree she could either get a job or apprenticeship in a nursery/pre-school and get a level 3 qualification, or why not look at au pairing abroad somewhere for a year?
The au pair in America programme is a lot more like nannying than au pairing in Europe. She would probably need a driving licence but essentially it would be a 40 hour a week live-in nanny job, with a wage rather than pocket money.

I would hire her as a mothers help.
She would need to get a qualification before I hired her as a nanny.
I have had childcare course students in placement in my home. The course is well worth doing.

Tell her to go to Norland!! The fees are high, but she'll make them back in the first few years.

Is she interested in aupairing abroad? Or skiing nanny?

The most useful "nanny skill" I learned was driving.

I would suggest trying a role in a nursery first to gain experience and get some qualifications in the subject.

It will also help her understand how stressful it can be working with children. She will get experience working with groups of children at a time but will also have the support if she needs it.

Specific paediatric first aid will be useful too along with her regular first aid.

If she is determined to go straight into nannying it might also be useful to maybe do an afterschool pickup kind of thing, then you have the kids from school for just a couple of hours before the parents get back, it might be a nice slower way in.

She can call herself whatever she likes and would be wise to take her first job under the title of nanny if she can get that (so she can say she was a nanny for 2 yrs etc 2 years from now).

She can't expect proper nanny wages at her age and her experience. I wouldn't pay it. But if she is good she will get there quickly.

It sounds like you are not really believing in her and I think that it's a hard jump for parents to see their late teens as adults starting careers. But don't let your impression of her as unqualified and still a kid who probably leaves her junk around the house shadow your view of her in the context of strangers starting to see her as a (potential) professional.

I think she has enough to get started and may get lucky with salary if someone likes her enough and believes in her. But I would be advising her to prepare to take a discounted nanny salary to get her first few years under her.

Probably should have been clearer, but she is not looking at this as a future career but more as a gap-year type job as a way of saving a little before uni (not really possible on Au Pair 'pocket money') which is why she isn't doing a qualification.

Also should have mentioned that she does have paediatric first aid as it's required for children's swimming teaching.

Haven't heard of skiing nanny but will google!
She is not bothered by location or country, but probably somewhere in Europe (she mentioned middle east but imo that's not a great idea).

dollybarton Not so much that I don't believe in her ability to work in a professional context. In fact, I fully trust she can be very professional - has had several successful internships etc....but in a completely different industry. I'm just not convinced that her expectations of what jobs she might be offered as a nanny are realistic.

Your 'reality check' for her makes more sense now that you've explained it's not a long term career plan. I wasn't criticising your approach as there is a lot of truth in what you were thinking but with a career like nannying, support and encouragement could lead to her being lucky with her first post. Just the nature of the job. But if she's not clearly serious about it as a career, there's no point and also people will see that in her.

Would she not get paid more doing swim teaching/coaching?

Some nannies are paid a lot but many are not - starting out and with no formal training she may not get paid that much.

Would parents want a nanny for a year, maybe but it narrows down the job market - a lot of competition at the moment.
Could she look at leisure industry - some leisure centres have a crèche, could combine that with swim teaching?

If she gets a middle East job it will probably be well paid, and after a year she may well be sick of being treated like a 3rd class citizen. (There must be good Middle East nanny jobs, but I've never heard about them!)

I really struggled to get my first nannying job, I was 24, I had a childcare qualification and 6years experience working in a day nursery. I would say she may struggle.

Being totally frank - there is no way I would employ your daughter. She is too young (I would query whether she could really handle a child who has an utter meltdown on/near major road/lots of traffic). I live in Central London and there are quite a few available, good nannies with a lot of experience.

I also wouldn't employ her if she is trying to just fill a gap year - children want stability.

So - I think she will struggle and if she does go for interviews, I would expect her to be flexible with money, type of work (some of the nannying jobs - people want some housework done - the less qualified/experienced may have to agree to this if they want the job) and not reveal she is off to uni in a year.

We have a Nanny.
Inwould not even interview someone this young with so little qualifications and experience to have sole care in a private home.

There are loads of settings you d could get experience in before becoming a nanny.

Could ahe not lifegiard for the summer and teach swimming? Assume she has those qualifications and open water?

Round here (London), she could probably get a role as an after-school Nanny. Looking after older primary school kids, for a couple of hours. Other parents seem happy to use young, unqualified 'nannies' for this, but partly cos it's cheap I.e. She won't get paid a lot.

I think the fact it is for a year only would limit her as pp said.
If she wants to go abroad would she look at working in kids clubs in resorts? I know people that have done it in the alps / eygpt / ibiza and they have all loved it. Not fantastic pay but a great experience.

If she worked as a lifeguard at a local sports centre she could probably get involved in their school holiday activities . Our local private schools also do gap year placements which involves a mix of sports supervision and supporting in the classroom. Probably a bit late for the ski season but what about Camp America, PGL etc

Ideally, she would need a level 3 qualification, or at least have started the training for it. The fact that she's 18, with no nanny experience or qualification, would mean she would probably be offered a mothers help role initially. Highly unlikely that she would be able to get a sole charge position abroad, often this is highly paid but comes with long days, often 6. Usually only experienced nannies are able to fulfill these roles.

Teal has a good idea, perhaps she could work in a kids club abroad, she would meet other people of a similar age that way too. Nannying can be very lonely.

If she wants a gap year has she looked at companies such as Kingswood, you don't earn much money as it's an apprenticeship but you get room and board and working as an activity instructor might be right down her street. Many of the friends I met doing this went on to au-pair, activity instructors at other companies, childrens club reps abroad, ski nannys, used it to gain experience before teacher training etc.

The fact that she only wants to work for a year and her lack of sole care will be issues, I think.

Has she got good A-levels and is she generally bright? There might a family with school-aged children abroad prepared to pay a bit over the au-pair going rates for your daughter to help them learn English. I don't think anyone would pay her actual nanny rates given her age and lack of childcare qualifications and experience.