4 Reasons to Never Hire a Nanny off of the Internet

July 14, 2015August 20, 2015 | Mitcha Orwell

I get it. I really do. Nanny-for-hire websites are fast and cheap. These sites dominate search engine rankings, making unsuspecting parents think they’re safe. Guess again. If you look closely at these internet websites you will see a disclaimer like this one:

“______.com does not employ, recommend or endorse any care provider…nor is it responsible for the conduct of any care provider…each individual is solely responsible for selecting an appropriate care provider.”

Anyone, let me repeat that, A-N-Y-O-N-E can join these nanny-for-hire sites. See the four main reasons to never hire a nanny from an internet website.

Here are the kinds of people on these sites along with rest of the nannies:

Nannies who have been rejected from legitimate nanny agencies due to suspicious behavior
Nannies who are on the local agency’s blacklist (yes, agencies do warn each other)
Nannies who have been fired from families due to negligence
Nannies who know or have family members that molest children

Those are the types of people that are on these nanny-for-hire sites. Those are the kinds of people that you, as a parent, must sort through to find an honest and loving nanny.

Think about it… Where else would a blacklisted nanny find work? Check out this HLN article about a tragedy resulting in a family hiring a nanny from CARE.COM.

Article excerpt: Prosecutors say 3-month-old Rylan Koopmeiners died of blunt force trauma on July 27, 2012, while under the care of Sarah Gumm, a nanny the girl’s parents found on CARE.COM. Read the full article.

sarah-gumm_lake_jail

I can just imagine this woman smiling in a nice on-line profile picture, probably holding a baby.

Internet purchasing should be for buying books and TVs, not for buying the services of a stranger to care for your most precious asset. Please do your children a favor and use a local agency. I recommend My Kensington Nanny & Home Services or Nanny Poppins.

Childcare is the Biggest Budget Item for Families

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 | Mitcha Orwell

BABYSITTER SURVEY SPENDING RESULTS

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 | Mitcha Orwell

Okay this is progress. Here’s a recent survey republished by a local nanny agency in Ft. Lauderdale, FL about babysitting spending.

BABYSITTER SURVEY SPENDING RESULTS

– National Average Rate for Babysitters: $13.44 per hour (up 28% from 2009, which was $10.50).
– Tipping: 1 in 4 (26%) tip on top of the hourly rate.
– Annual Raises: 87% would give their sitter a raise.
– How Families Decide What to Pay: The majority of parents (68%) rely on sitters to set the rate and pay what they charge; 40% ask their friends; and 20% use a pay rate calculator.
–   What Families Think About How Much They Pay: 25% say they pay too much.
–   Who Families Are Willing to Pay More: Half (51%) would pay older sitters more because of their experience; 38% would be willing to pay older sitters $5 more per hour. Plus, 1 in 10 would pay an extra $5 per hour for last-minute sitters.
–   Five Most Expensive Cities to Hire a Babysitter (per hour):

San Francisco, CA: $16.65
San Jose, CA: $15.63
Boston, MA: $15.37
New York, NY: $15.09
Washington, DC: $14.99

– Five Least Expensive Cities to Hire a Babysitter (per hour):

Grand Rapids, MI: $11.31
Columbia, SC: $11.72
Rochester, NY: $11.79
Salt Lake City, UT: $11.82
Akron, OH: $11.84

– Top Two Reasons Families Don’t Hire a Babysitter: It costs too much (57%) and it’s too stressful to find someone they like (51%).
– How Families Save on Babysitters: A majority (61%) would share a sitter with a friend and 18% would hire a sitter with less experience. In addition, nearly half (46%) have cut a date short to avoid paying an extra hour, and 1 in 5 (20%) pay a lower rate when their kids are sleeping.

Newest Parenting Trends

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 | Mitcha Orwell

This is a great article I found recently on a Boca Raton nanny agency website. Enjoy 🙂

PARENTING TRENDS TO WATCH

1. The Drone Parent – Raised by helicopter parents themselves, today’s newest drone parents are more hyper-involved and digitally present in their children’s lives than ever before. Tech-dependent and tech-savvy, these drone parents are using everything from GPS-enabled trackers to baby wearables to monitor their child’s every move (and even breath!) no matter where they are.

2. The Sandwich Sitter – With nearly half of adults falling into the Sandwich Generation (47%) – simultaneously caring for aging parents and children – the demand for providers who can care for both grandma and toddler under one roof will become more prevalent. In fact, the popularity of intergenerational daycare centers complete with adult care programs and child activities has steadily been rising over the past 20 years.

3. Foodie Babies – Apple pear compote. Kale and sweet potato puree. These aren’t dishes at the new “it” restaurant; they’re what parents are serving up to their pint-sized foodies. Plus, babysitters and nannies are increasingly expected to whip up just-as-delicious dishes that can accommodate a variety of dietary considerations for their little ones. According to Care.com, the percentage of childcare jobs that mention gluten alone has increased by 92% since 2010. And for those who can afford it, some parents are even enrolling their nanny in cooking school to create a menu portfolio of flavorful recipes that foster healthy eating habits.

4. The Multilingual Nanny – Do you speak Chinese, Spanish and English? My Kensington Nanny predicts that the new must-learn language isn’t just Spanish or Chinese…it’s both! In the rest of the world being bilingual or trilingual isn’t a rarity, but it is in the United States. To provide children with a competitive edge in an increasingly shrinking global community, parents will begin to seek multilingual nannies to help their little ones “parler français” and “hablar español” at the ripe age of 3. In fact, the three most popular languages that families would like their nannies to speak are Spanish, French and Chinese, respectively.

And because pets are considered family too…

5. The Doggie Cam – Forget nanny cams, modern-day pet parents are leveraging technology typically marketed to parents of human little ones for their four-legged family members. From at-home HD cameras enabled with two-way talk and cloud recording to camera-mounted dog harnesses to get a dog’s-eye view of life, pet parents are keeping a watchful eye on their furry wards at home…and on the streets.

Nanny agency in south Florida that is pretty amazing

June 18, 2015July 13, 2015 | Mitcha Orwell

There are a few agencies in South Florida that do good work. The rest of them you should steer clear of like yesterday’s turdy diaper. Since I live in South Florida now and have a lot of free time in my golden age of retirement, I thought I’d do a little investigating. Here’s the agency I would pick to help me find a nanny for my granddaughter. Drumroll please….

#1 – My Kensington Nanny & Home Services
www.mykensingtonnanny.com

They have been around for about 12 years in Florida. The owner is really particular about who she refers. They charge a service deposit to keep out all the riff-raff parents that aren’t serious about finding a nanny. (I personally agree with that). I couldn’t believe their fees were so low. But they still offer payment options. The reason why I chose My Kensington Nanny agency as my personal preference is because they are crazy serious about screening their nannies.

They won’t even talk to a nanny unless she passes a skills test. And I don’t mean squeak one out, I mean they have to get a “B”or higher on their test. I’ve never heard, I mean never ever, heard of an agency that does that. It makes sense though…

If the nanny is lucky enough to pass that test (and I heard it was not easy) then they have to go into a scored interview. They call it “The Interview Procedure” as if it was some surgical procedure I’d expect to receive a bill from my Insurance company two weeks later. This “Procedure” rates candidate answers in several different sections – like interpersonal skills, etc. Apparently, if a candidate doesn’t earn at least a 3 out of 5 score then they can’t proceed to the next step in the nanny registration process.

They mean shizznizzle, bizznizzwax (according to my granddaughter).

But wait, there’s more…

As if this wasn’t enough for these poor, brilliant nannies, they then have to get Professionally Nanny Certified. This is a certification course that was created for Kensington Nanny in Jacksonville Florida back on ’05 I think, I remember this because when Angela von Dietrich had this certification created, I knew a couple of professional career nannies that worked with her. Kensington is the only agency in the nation that I know if that actually trains the nannies, well, nanny etiquette. Good stuff.