Three Things to Know When Looking for a Live-In Nanny

While most parents don’t enjoy having to work out of the house away from their children each day, sometimes it’s necessary in order to pay the bills. If it comes down to that, you’ll want to make sure that you find a live in caregiver that will have your children’s best interests at heart. Finding a live in nanny is an incredibly important task, and if you don’t discuss the right subjects up front, you may end up with someone you’re not pleased with.

Worse yet, you could end up with someone that could end up being a bad influence on your children.

• Compatible Values – If you’re planning on hiring a caregiver for your children, you’ll naturally want to make sure that you find someone whose values match your own. In order to make sure that your children are not told things that you don’t approve of in your absence, make sure that you question each potential candidate about the values they plan on bringing into your home.
• Clearly Defined Parameters – Finding a live in nanny is no different than hiring for any other job. Certain things will be expected, while other things won’t be. If your job requires you to travel overnight sometimes, you should let a potential nanny know that they may need to provide supervision overnight. Hashing out all of the details at the beginning could help to avoid any confusion after hiring has taken place.
• Salary Expectations – Will the new nanny be expected to receive a set weekly rate of pay, or will they be paid overtime should their duties require them to work longer hours than usual? Expected pay and working hours need to be discussed from the beginning. If you do not make it a point to discuss them early on, you could end up with a live-in nanny who believes that they are entitled to more than you expected to pay.

Finding a live in nanny can be made easier if you know what to discuss up front. Aside from making sure that you avoid any awkward or confusing moments down the line, you’ll also be ensuring that your children are properly cared for by an individual who takes pride in their work. Taking the time now is one of the best ways to avoid all of the biggest nanny hiring mistakes.