Sarah's Story

Why I decided to be a Career NannyHi. My name is Sarah and I am a career nanny in South Africa. Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to work with children and always entertained the idea of working as the Royal Nanny in the UK! (Not any more though) I started enquiring about nanny schools and working as a nanny, but found that it is an almost unheard of thing in South Africa. Here, a nanny is a black woman who cleans your house and takes care of the kids for usually less than minimum wage and not so great working conditions. In the last 10 years, things have been changing, but are changing very slowly. I am trying to get the message across about the differences in childcare and it is slowly, but surely, working. Many girls working as aupairs in SA are only doing it because they need a part-time job that fits around their studies and many think that childcare is an easy, well-paid job (which it isn’t in SA) Most girls work with school age children (fetching from school, homework etc) and babies go to crèche from 2 months old!!! Once I found out that there is nowhere in South Africa to train to become a professional nanny, I started looking overseas. I found the Nanny and Governess School in Ohio, USA and various colleges in the UK offering the NNEB (now called DCE) as well as Princess Christian, Chiltern and Norland Nanny Schools which are very elite. All however were too expensive for me and my parents at the time. So, I started working as a mothers helper after school (for about 4 hours a day) everyday with 3 boys aged 1, 4 and 9 years. I spent 11 months (over 500 hours) with the family in the afternoons. I had sole charge as the mum was sick (very tired all the time) and she slept most of the days or went out. That was a lot of fun so after I finished high school I decided to take a year off from studying and I went to the USA as an aupair. Well, that was indeed an eye-opener as I cannot believe how many parents take advantage of a young girl in a foreign country. I was so glad that I spoke English fluently! I stayed for a year and when I came home I got a job with a family in South Africa looking after 2 children aged 5 and 10 years mainly responsible for after school activities (bear in mind that our schools finish between noon and 2pm). This only lasted for a couple of months, because by now I knew that I really wanted to care for babies. I had also decided to pursue a teaching degree as I knew that it would give me the education I needed in child development and education to work as a nanny overseas. Quite by accident, I found myself with a full-time job in a crèche responsible for 3 – 4 babies under 6 months. I was in heaven, except that it was just a temp job and the permanent staff were due to return after 4 months. Then, the one baby in the crèche who was often sick ended up in hospital and I was a full-time nanny! This started off as a temporary job because the family couldn’t afford a permanent nanny and had decided to send the baby back to crèche when she was better, so I set about finding myself a new job to start when this one ended – Jan 2004. Since I was starting my teaching degree, I decided to find work in a school setting as got a job working in a school as a teachers’ assistant. I signed the contract in late December and told my family who were rather upset because they had decided that they rather enjoyed their nanny especially since they hadn’t been back to the doctor once since I started! I helped them find a new nanny, but because of the lack of childcare professionals in South Africa, it took a long time. Eventually we found a great girl who although had some experience (2 weeks or so) with babies, still put the baby’s nappy/diaper on backwards the first time! She was rather nervous around baby especially for nap routines and bathing. I started my new job, but still went to visit regularly and babysat often. I soon decided that my specialization as a nanny was going to be babies, the younger the better and I applied to attend the MNT (Maternity Nanny Training) course in the UK (in Dec 2004) to train as a maternity nurse (specializing in home care of newborns to 3 months). I also got a job as a maternity/baby nanny in the afternoons for 5 – 6 hours a day to help with a little baby who was just 4 days when I started. When she was 6 weeks my agreement with the mum ended and I now have another maternity nanny position with a boy who was just 2 weeks when I started. The were eager for me to quit working at the school in the mornings, but I had signed a contract and I wanted to stick to it. I worked with them until the baby was 10 weeks and then they hired an aupair! Well, that didn’t last long and 5 hours later, I was re-hired as the permanent nanny. I am now a nanny to a darling little boy in the afternoons soon to become full-time (Oct 2004) and I am loving every minute of it! I am also on a crusade to get Professional Nannies in South Africa (few that we are) recognized as such. I am also starting up a support group for nannies in the area, but there are not many of us. I just love being a nanny and I can see myself working as a nanny for a very long time. I hope that in the near future, things turn around in South Africa and that we sort out better care for our children, who are our best assets!