Nannies Bonding with Families

Most parents that work full time will hire a professional nanny to give them extra support and have reassurance that their children are in the best of care and their needs are met.

It’s always hard leaving one family and joining another. Here are some tips to help.

How to Bond with Families

Build a good relationship with the parents

Before you dive into your new job as a full-time nanny, make sure you develop a good relationship with the parents.

Before you start any position, you must discuss working hours, family and children’s daily routine, flexibility if needed, duties and responsibilities, holidays, any personal appointment, salary and always have contract signed before starting any position.

Children will naturally come to trust you when they see their parents and you share a good relationship. Similarly, children can also feel the friction between a nanny and their parents and might come to distrust you.

Communicate with the Parents

Keeping a diary, a WhatsApp group or having a hand over period in the evening is always a good way of having good communication skills with the parents. Discussing the children’s day to day progress, eating habits, activities, trips to the park or library, school work and even the rough days when the children maybe ill or baby is teething. This will allow the parents to feel they are still involved in their children’s day to day routine.

Accompany Them on Their Family Trips

Job descriptions are different with different families, some may need you to travel or work the occasional weekend.

Additionally, fun outings with the children are a great way to bond with them and the family.  Children love to have playmates and like to spend time with those who pay attention to them.  They’ll instantly grow closer to you after these outings like, trips to the park, the zoo, playgroups.

Remember that a job as a nanny is very different than other kinds of jobs. You almost become a part of the family and a constant part of children’s lives. The longer you stay with the family, the children grow to be a lifelong friend.

How to Build a Bond with the Children 

Be Patient

Shy, curious, active, quiet, and all other kinds of children could be waiting for you in the family you’ll be working for next. And all children react differently to the nannies. In either case, you’ll need to be patient with all of them.

Some children instantly befriend new people while others take time to get out of their comfort zone. If you wish to be a good nanny, patience should be one of your biggest virtues.

Play and interact with Them

One of the characteristics of a good nanny is that the children light up when they see the nanny arrive. It indicates a strong bond between the children and the nanny.

A great way to develop this kind of bond is to play with the children, join them in fun activities. Plan something special for every day that excites the children. You can even use this as a positive mean of a structured routine.

Plan a trip at the end of every month and make sure these trips are unique every time. Take them to a museum or take them to a park with some fun games in mind. You can even teach them interesting skills every week or give them a challenging target that not only keeps them busy in something positive but also develops their skills.

Building a Friendship

One of the basic requirements of establishing your career as a nanny is to genuinely love the company of children. If you will love spending time with the children, then children would love spending time with you as well.

Stay Energetic

You need to keep the children actively engaged and for that, you must stay energetic and enthusiastic at all times. As a nanny, you might need to do some Nursery Duties related to the children. This is your sole responsibility.

Listening to the Children

You are in the business of taking care of little human beings and for that, you need to be a good listener, a shoulder to cry on and occasional hugs. Something that may have happened during the day, in school, the playground or with friend may not be such a big deal for you but could seem a lot bigger in the eyes of a child. Make sure you’re always available so that they can discuss and listen to what’s bothering them.

Staying in Contact with the Previous Families

Being a nanny is not just a job, it requires for some emotional attachment too. Hence even when the children grow up, even when the family does not need you anymore, the feelings do not go away. They practically become your own family in many ways.

It’s best to stay in contact with the previous families for your own emotional well-being; and also, to let the children know that they can still reach out to you whenever they want.

Baby Sitting

If possible, let the family know that you are available for babysitting. This will give you an excellent chance to spend some quality time with your ex-charges. Children too miss the company of their nanny after they start going to school.

Contact

If the children have grown up to the point of becoming college-going students, stay in touch.

You never know when your ex-charge might be in need of a shoulder, or just someone to share some good news with.

Birthdays

Birthdays work as great events at which you can reconnect with people you haven’t been in touch with for quite some time. It does not need to be a gift, it can be as simple as a card or a thoughtful message.

Meet-ups

Planning a meet up for some lunch or a visit with them if they are too young and their parents for a catch up.

Follow these tips and you and your charges will enjoy a genuine relationship with each other, one that started as strangers and translated into nothing less than a family bond.

© Teresa Boardman, Nanny Options.

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