There’s a difference between nannying and babysitting—let’s get that sorted out right away.
Babysitting = watching someone’s kids while the guardian is away for a portion of the day.
Nannying = Being in someone’s home from morning to evening on a scheduled basis. Performing homecare tasks along with childcare, cooking meals, and cleaning.
I nannied with my mom from 11 to 13-years-old, and these are 4 traits that were fine-tuned from that work.
1.
The principles of prioritizing what needed to be done over what I wanted to do helped balance out the freedoms I had at home. That, and I loved the family we worked with.
Responsibility is a sure-fire way to encourage strengths in leadership and ownership of actions.
2. Heightened intuition
When you work with kids, especially toddlers and babies, you must pay attention to what they can’t say. That means being intuitive towards needs and being there as a source of kindness and safety.
Working with children sped up my observation skills and sharpened my problem-solving abilities
3.
I know, I know—no one is good at multitasking. One task always suffers as a result. However, if we break down the tasks in this situation, it was a plus: folding laundry, while keeping an eye on the kids playing in the yard, while waiting for the timer on something, planning what to do next, etc. Each one is simple on its own but can spiral in a second.
Being hyper-aware of each thing that needed to be done gave me a good grasp on managing a busy life early on.
4. Steady responses
Kids pick up on everything. They know when somethings off or different and it’s important to maintain a steady presence. Easier said than done for anyone, let alone a tween.
But I learned how to even out my responses and provide a helpful presence for the four little girls we cared for, and for my mom.
As a result, I’m not one to lose my cool in hectic situations.
In summary
Anyone who works in childcare knows how intense it can be, and also how rewarding. Some may say I shouldn’t have been working at that age, but I would disagree. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything.
I’ll always be honored that I had a hand in shaping those kiddos, and was able to impact their lives as much as they impacted mine.
Was it hard? Yes.
But most things in life worth doing aren’t easy.
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