It’s Not Only Babysitting Children
Raising children comes with huge responsibility, for both parents or caretakers who assist the parents. Whenever you take on the job, you agree to do the best job you can with the tools you have. The tools range from the knowledge you possess, love, patience, imagination, kindness and much more. So you’d better have most of these or try practising them in advance.
All these tools are essential to become a competent babysitter or nanny. There are also a couple of things you need to have in mind before being a nanny; preparation before employment is key.
First thing, know that the children aren’t yours, and you’re only needed to offer help. The parents are responsible for making all the decisions of the children’s care.
You only have a say on matters relating to your expected income and benefits. Ensure you get the agreed amount on paper; avoiding any disputes in future. A gross to net calculator can help you ensure you get the amount you deserve.
Also, make sure you’re aware of the appropriate activities and tools for kids to engage with, depending on their ages, to ensure the child is growing.
What is a Nanny? You’re Not the Parent and They’re Not Your Kids
You are required to raise these kids with their parents’ morals and values. If you’re not ready to do this, consider quitting the job since you’re not to determine the way the kids should be raised. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived with these kids, or how much the parents love you, what matters is, they are the parents.
Assess whether you have similar values and beliefs as the family in the initial stages before you find yourself in a compromised situation. In case you don’t, you better see a different family, before you’ve both invested too much in each other. Also, note the things you can compromise on and ensure you abide by the parents’ guidelines. Failing to follow the parents’ rules you not only confuse the child, but the parents will finally come to know, they’ll get angry and this could compromise your relationship and worse the job. For example, you may let the child climb on a jungle gym, you’re aware the parents would feel unsafe with this, however you think it’s okay. The child will do this again, they might fall and get injured. It doesn’t matter if the wound is small, as long as you went against what the parents wish, they’ll probably lose trust in you to take great care of their child. The moment they can’t trust you, you’re not fit for the job.
Discipline
Importantly, never use any kind of physical punishment like a pinch, even if you see the parents do it. Remember, you’re not the parent. (There are great ideas for non-pinching disciplines out there. Be a bit more creative!)
Also, you need to know what kind of punishments their mum or dad would accept. Take some time to discuss with them the kind of punishments they use and also what they consider right or wrong. This is key since the children get to know whether their parents are around or not nothing changes, the discipline is the same. Learn the parents’ tactics until you’re comfortable. Whenever you feel like trying something new and you’re not sure about it, discuss it with the parents. Be cautious on how you phrase the questions, and this is especially if you’re new and haven’t built trust since they may see you as a critic to their parenting.