Glenda's Story

Glenda

My name is Glenda  and I wanted to share with you  today about why I am proud to be a professional nanny

First I would like to tell you a little bit about myself, so that you will understand the road I took to get to this point in my life.

I have always loved children. I can remember my first baby sitting job when I was 10 years. I offered to sit in the backyard in the wading pool with her 2 year old,  for .25 an hour. She was at home but since she had 3 other children, she welcomed a break. Later on, when I was 12, I babysat most of my summers. It was all I ever really wanted to do, and it was something that I was good at, and I enjoyed it.

I babysat all through High School and had quite a line up of families that I worked for. I made .50 an hour and back then I guess that was a lot of money. Mostly I babysat for families in the neighborhood or in my church.

I knew that no matter what I did in my life, it would involve working with children.

When I finished junior college, my church was getting ready to open a Child Care Center . This was 1975 and the need for child care was climbing.

I was appointed the Asst. Director of the Child Care Center , and then a year later, I was named Director when the Director decided to stay home after maternity leave. Child Care was very different back then. First of all, it was in a small town, and you knew everyone who brought their child there.You also knew their brothers and sisters and who they married, where they lived, and who their grandparents were.

The center opened with 12 children and I stayed there for 9 years. During the first 3 years we added 6 full time staff members. The thing that made our center unique was that we kept our original staff during the 9 years I was there, and added on more full time staff and part time workers. I liked my job, but I was almost 30 years old and the winds of change were blowing.

I cried every night the 2 weeks before I turned 30 years old.

I cried because I did not want to be 30.

I cried because I thought my life would be downhill from there.

And I cried because even though I loved my job, I lived in a small town, and there was no room for advancement.

There are times in our lives when we come to a crossroads, and we have to make a decision, I decided to do what we all do, when we want to change the course of our life

I went on a diet, colored my hair,  and bought new nail polish. Unfortunately, this time, it was not enough. I knew that it was time to make a big change in my life and I was not sure what that change was going to be.

One Sunday afternoon, I was reading the paper and an article in Martha Carr’s column caught my eye. It was an Open House for the second round of the Child Day Care Associations Nanny Training Program. In the time that it took me to read the words, I knew in my heart what I was going to do.

I took the paper out to my parents and talked to my dad about it. He was not as excited as I was. He had questions. Questions, like what about insurance and what about benefits? And what about retirement? He also felt like I did not need to go to school, because of my background and my experience. I listened to him half heartedly because I knew already that this was what I was going to do. I would call and ask the questions he wanted answers to but some things, you know in your heart, and I knew in my heart that this was the next chapter in my life.

Suddenly, it did not matter to me that I would have to quit my job to do it, it did not matter to me that I would have work part time to pay my bills and my rent. It did not matter to me that I would have to drive on the highway in the city even though I had never done it before. The only thing that mattered to me, was that I was going to Nanny School , and I was going to be a Professional Nanny.

 Thinking about being a nanny was easy, but as time went on, I began to realize that not everyone had the same understanding of a nanny’s role in the family. I began to realize that not everyone thought the fact that I was a nanny, was such a great thing.

People began to make comments like, “ I bet that baby thinks your it’s mother”

Oh, I hear you babysit now!

 And so…as I began to dodge the bullets on the battleground of the mommy wars, I began to have a deep sense of injustice, and a seething anger, that I constantly had to defend and explain what I did, and why.

I also resented having to defend my employers especially the mother, for choosing to have a career and children.

One night, a friend of mine were out with some other friends , and a woman came over and sat down, uninvited, and started to ask us questions.Questions like: Where do you work? Who do you work for? Where is that? Etc , etc My friend Katie and I were trying really hard to be evasive because we did not want to go through the whole process of “We are professional nannies” Finally the woman just kept asking and prodding and we said “Well, actually we are professional nannies” The woman reacted very badly “ Oh my gosh, how can you stand that!, I would just go crazy if that was me, and on and on and on, until I could feel the built up anger rising out of my control.

Katie got me away from her before I lost it, but that night for me was a turning point. I decided that instead of going around being angry all the time about the injustice, and the lack of respect that nannies often get, I would channel my energy into educating the public about the nanny profession.

Shortly after that, my employer came back from California with an article about a woman who was going to be starting an organization called the International Nanny Association. She told me that I should call her, and find out more.

That summer I went to my first INA conference with 4 of my St. Louis Nanny friends. This was a group that was just starting and the next year I was asked to serve on their Board of Directors. I served on their Board of Directors for 5 years, was also a Vice President, and was chosen their Second International Nanny Association’s Nanny of the Year in 1991.

I made many friends through my work in INA and in 1992, along with Harriette Grant who has been in this profession for 40 years this year,  and Eva Harkness, who is now Dr. Eva Harkness, a nanny for 15 years who also taught in Community College Nanny Program founded the National Association of Nannies. We started NAN because we wanted an organization that would reach out and meet nannies where they were, and offer them support, educational opportunities and the benefit of mentoring from nannies who had been in the field for many years.

We offered a newsletter, that was done by nannies, and we held an annual conference. Through my work in NAN, I have met many nannies across the country, but another turning point for my professional life, came in 1997 when my husband and I bought our first computer and I was mesmerized by all the nannies online and all of the information online for nannies.

The internet offered an opportunity for me to network with nannies all over the world.

I was a member of the first online mailing list for nannies, I started a Chat room for nannies on AOL, and serve as a  moderator for  a wonderful  group online called Parents with Nannies. This is a list of nannies, parents, and agencies who work together, give advice information and support. The parents can talk about the problems they have with their nanny and the nannies can offer suggestions and advice. Needless to say we have had some pretty heated discussions but it has been a wonderful chance to see the parents side of having a nanny, without being personally effected by it.

I tell you this because by channeling my anger into something positive, it has helped me to be able to grow as a professional.

In the last 18 years I have been with 2 families. They were both very different, but I learned a lot from both of them. I am still very close to my first family and when I got married  7 years ago,( a completely other wonderful chapter of my life) all of my charges past and present were in my wedding. I have always made sure that my employers knew about and understood my interest in the nanny profession on a national level, and make it very clear that the last weekend in September is the NAN Conference, and I need to have that time off.

I have found that by sharing my NAN newsletters with them, it helps them to understand how serious my profession is to me and how deep my commitment is. This also helps them to view me as , and respect me as a professional.

At that turning point in my life I came to the realization that some people get it, and some people don’t.

Some people will understand it if you explain it to them, and some people

Will never understand because they don’t want to.

*I am the one who has to be a peace with what I do, and I am proud to be a nanny.

*I am proud to be a nanny because I know that the children I care for need me, and I know that I need them.

*I know that for every thing I have taught a child, a child has taught me something in return.

*  I believe that as nannies we care for the future and there can be no other job more important than this.