Having a good relationship with your nanny is as important as having a good relationship with your spouse. Whether we like to believe it or not, nanny-parent relationship is like a marriage between the man and woman and we must always try to look at avenues to make it healthy and work out very well.
Ways to build relationship
- Make Expectations Clear from Day One: “If you want your nanny to help with dinner or do laundry or light cleaning and she’ll have the free time during the day to do them, let her know from the start. You don’t just want to spring major new demands on a nanny, because then she’ll feel taken advantage of. Some moms refuse to ask their nannies to do their house chores; not because they cannot ask them, but because they do not want to give their nannies the impression that their baby is not top priority.
- Care deeply about your Nanny: You must care about your nanny’s mental and physical health as much as you care for your family. It’s hard to believe but the nanny is part of the family, as a working mum, if your nanny is not okay for some time we will be disestablished for some days, we all know how difficult it is to get a good hand to hire these days. So please let us treat our nannies as part of the family.
- Pamper Her: You should also learn how to pamper our nannies, if they have done very well we should tell them and sometimes give them extra something, or give them some time off to look after themselves. They are also human beings like us. If she has children, you can buy her things for her children. Give her a present on her birthday. How many of us know our nanny’s birthdays? It starts from the little details. We truly need to learn how to pamper our nannies, because we leave them with our most valuable possession, which are our children.
- Be Generous: Some moms give their nannies end-of-year bonus (sometimes, as much as an extra week’s salary), plus an annual pay raise. We believe strongly in not nickel-and-diming nanny. We advise that you keep to the contract agreement that you have with your nannies and if they work extra time, let us compensate them for it. We can guarantee you one thing, it will surely pay off because she will always come when you need her and it will be a bit difficult for her to just leave you stranded. She will be happy and cheerful and work very hard.
- Pick Your Battles: Learn to let go, do not react to everything she does wrong. Our philosophy is that “the less you critique and make requests, the more impact it will have when you have an important change you want her to make.”
Speak Up About Big Issues “If you have to talk with your nanny about something you are not happy about, try to get