I feel like I am finally reaching the salary and professional respect that I have been striving for in the past 20-years working as a nanny. There is no doubt that there is lot of luck is involved in finding a great nanny job in which the parents and nanny work well together. But, while talking with other employees that work in the same household as I do, I realize that a lot of my career success is attributed to maintaining an optimistic, pro-active, flexible, and a professional attitude -- as well as having a little luck.
The best nannies keep their jobs and earn their raises by making themselves essential to their employers. The best nannies are willing to pitch-in beyond just basic childcare duties to help the parents as well as caring for the kids. The best nannies resist the urge to be average at their jobs.
In 100 Simple Secrets of Successful PeopleDavid Niven, Ph.D., the author explains that each day we are surrounded by average people who can easily entice us into being more like them. The book explains that it’s too easy to mirror the bad behaviors the people we see and are in touch with daily. Caregivers with bad work habits can easily rub off on us.
With that in mind I want to encourage other nannies to not allow others with bad attitudes to convince them to sacrifice their goals, individuality, professionalism, character, and strong work ethic. To be better than an average nanny we need to surround ourselves with nannies, au pairs, and parents with qualities we want to possess.
It doesn’t matter to me if the lazy, disrespectful nanny that gossips negatively about her employers across the street tells me how much she doesn’t like her job. It doesn’t matter if she’s not willing to do the same chores, errands, or duties that I am willing to do for the family that hired me. I only work as a nanny to help the parents that have hired me to do my best to help raise their kids to their wishes. I am finding it’s best to either ignore or disassociate with the other caregivers in town that drag- me-down and focus on keeping my employers and their kids happy instead.
Of course nannies must learn to be around people they don’t like at times too. There is no point in being mean towards others or alienating yourself from other nannies. But for nannies surrounded by bad influences I’d like them to remember that they don’t work for other nannies or caregivers in town and they don’t owe other nannies anything. Nannies work for their employers. To be the most successful nanny they can be they may need to ignore those that drag them down and simply focus on doing their jobs to the best of their ability.
100 Simple Secrets of Successful People, The: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It
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