Your Holiday Bonus Won't Make You as Rich as the Invaluable Work You Do!Articles this time of year tell parents what to give their nannies for holiday, or year-end, bonuses and gifts. Although all nannies hope for hard cold cash, (as cleverly stated by nanny Sue Downey), I think that a truly prosperous nanny is not rich because of the sum in their bank account.
Kenneth Aldridge, explains that what you do with your money will make you rich or poor. But, being rich doesn't mean you can have whatever you want. Is there anyone who can go to a store and give the cashier enough cash to buy joy? Is our bank account huge enough to write a check for peace? Can we purchase real love on credit? Cars cannot drive us on a route that will fulfill us. A mansion in all of it's splendor does not have the ability to complete us.
None of these things have the propensity to be bought or transferred through any other means but by spiritual abundance.
Adapted from The Voice in the Wilderness
1. Money can buy a bed, but not sleep.
2. Money can buy books, but not brains.
3. Money can buy food, but not appetite.
4. Money can buy finery, but not beauty.
5. Money can buy a house, but not a home.
6. Money can buy medicine, but not health.
7. Money can buy luxuries, but not culture.
8. Money can buy amusements, but not happiness.
9. Money can buy companionship, but not friends.
10. Money can buy the good life, but not eternal life.
If you find satisfaction in helping raise a happy, healthy, secure child then working as a nanny makes you rich. Hearing a child's first words, sparking their curiosity, encouraging their self-esteem, helping them through challenges, just knowing you are helping raise a child to be the best that they can be, is what makes a nanny rich. Nannies ought to feel prosperous through the work that they do.
How can you even put a price on raising a child? Is there anything more important? In fact, a nannies work is priceless.
So don't judge your job or self-worth on the size of your holiday bonus this year. It is the work that you do that should be rewarding and what makes a nanny rich.
What do you love most about working as a nanny?
7 comments:
What I love most about working as a nanny are the little moments where you know the children REALLY love and care about you.
2 examples come to mind...
My charge- 3 at the time overheard a conversation on the phone- where I was confirming dinner plans with a friend. My charge looked up at me and said- Are you hungry? you can have some of my food.
Another time I was not feeling well and told my charge, 4 at the time, I had to lay down on the sofa for a few minutes. And asked if she could please go get a puzzle or bood and play quietly near me. She said OK- and then came back with her favorite blanket (which she put over me) and her favorite Barbie cup filled with water- and said- "Here this is for you to make you feel better" and kissed my forehead.
Still warms my heart to think about those times.
Andrea~
Professional Career Nanny in NJ
Ahhh...that's beautiful. Yes, I love those things too.
This morning when I got there the sweet little girl (16 months) I take care of, jumped up from her mom's lap and ran over to me to climb into my lap and gave me a hug. It doesn't get any better.
I have many memories, but one of my favorites was told to me by the dad of my charge at the time (3 years old). We were traveling at the time and I had taken him and his sister to many different fun things to do all day. His dad asked him, "what was your favorite thing today?" - He thought about it and said, "Karen".(me).
I made a pillow for one of my other charges (2 years old) at the time and now at age 10 - he still sleeps with it every night. He told me because it reminds him of me.
- Karen, Atlanta Career Nanny
So true that we don't choose to work as nannies because we want to be very wealthy, you have to love children.
But most nannies don't choose to work as nannies but have no other options because not educated or not legal to work here.
Lovely sentiment and all but if you have a really crappy job with disrespectful parents and kids not getting a bonus will make nannies leave their jobs.
Things I like about working as a nanny: i love kids, it is wonderful bonding with them,
it's a pretty low-stress job most of the time, the hours are great for me, i can bring my own kids to work with me when they were sick
i loved that most of the time, the parents let me plan the day and decide which activities I do with the kids. i love seeing my influence on them and watching them grow.
I just find it incredibly generous of the parents to trust me to work to care for their precious children. I have such an important role in their lives. I'm proud that I find creative ways to discipline the kids and don't yell or scold them. I love listening to their stories, wiping their tears, helping them learn...you name it. It is a privelidge.
We ought to only buy what we can afford for others. No one else really cares too much about how much you spend but that you thought of them personally. The parents and kids knowing my favorite color is much more meaningful to me than getting a George Foreman grill.
You are right in this article that if you aren't happy in your job a bonus won't change that.
Love the sentiment, maybew we shouldn't complain about bonuses and gifts when so many need jobs.
"Lovely sentiment and all but if you have a really crappy job with disrespectful parents and kids not getting a bonus will make nannies leave their jobs."
No offense, but if your in a crappy job with disrespectul parents and difficult kids, it shouldn't be the lack of a bonus that would cause you to leave that job. I'm a professionally trained nanny and I've been working for the better part of 20 years and only in one job have I ever recieved a holiday bonus. Would I have liked them on a regular basis, of course, but did that make the work that I did with those families any less appreciated? Nope!
Post a Comment