When the nanny arrives introduce her to the family and give her a brief synopsis of ages and any of the children’s interests (e.g. football, music, colouring etc). This will help break the ice. Some questions that may help you get a feel for the nanny are:
- What ages of children have you worked with?
- Why did you want to become a nanny?
- Tell me a bit about yourself – how would you describe yourself?
If at this stage you feel that you like her it may be useful to show her round the house (if she is live-in let her see her living accommodation). It may also be useful to allow her to spend some time with the children to see how everyone gets on After she has left you may want to think about the following:
- Did everyone get on; was she enthusiastic with the children? Did they warm to her?
- Would you feel comfortable having her in the house (and if she in live-in would you be happy living with her)?
- Did she seem organised, did she arrive on time – does she know the local area?
- Did you feel you could talk to her easily?
- What were her strengths and weaknesses?
There are some legal formalities that you need to be aware of when employing someone such as insurance and tax. In addition to this you will need to agree a start date, hours of work, salary, sick leave procedures and holiday time. It is also really important that you establish some household rules such as time-off, use of mobile phone, discipline etc.
VIP Top Tips brought to you from:
Ali Durban and Laura Becker, busy, working mothers who set up the Babyworks. Over the last 8 years, we have driven friends and parents mad, seeking advice, begging for help and looking for the answer to many a childcare problem. Whilst chatting over coffee one morning, it amazed us how many of our friends also struggled to find support and trusted advice on baby care and parenthood.
The idea for The BabyWorks was born. A one-stop support team of carefully vetted and selected people, that could offer help and support to parents and parents-to-be. Rather than just offering one service, we felt that pregnancy and parenthood was a journey of many different needs.
Laura has over 5 years experience working in the field of maternity services including night nannies, maternity nannies, sleep doctors and more, Ali has over 10 years experience in delivering marketing and PR campaigns to high profile clients. We have over 5 of our own children, 5 nephews and nieces and 200 friend’s babies and children between us!
