Depending on your personal background and interests, being a nanny may be very appealing.  If you enjoy being around children or have experience raising them, you may find yourself well-suited to working as a nanny.  For the most part, you’ll find that each job is as unique as each child that you contract to care for, leading to a great amount of variety in your professional life.  While there are some disadvantages to being a nanny, it’s one of the few careers in which you can start and stop working at any time.  You may even find that you can successfully enter this job field during the later years of your life.

 

Job Description

 

When you work as a nanny, you’ll be responsible for every aspect of a child’s care.  You’ll plan and prepare meals and snacks, as well as supervise routine chores, bathing, play time, and homework time.  Depending on the terms of your working contract, you may be required to pick the child up from school or transport him or her to various activities.  In many cases, you’ll live right in the home with the parents and the child, unless you’re working on a part-time basis.  As you gain experience, you may find yourself working for families with more than one child.

 

Education and Experience

 

Although there are no specific educational requirements for working as a nanny, each family will be looking for a specific set of qualifications.  For example, some families may be content with knowing that you have direct experience with raising your own children.  Other families may just be looking for a high school graduate with experience supervising children.  Still other families will want to know whether or not you’ve had special training and education in early childhood education.  Typically, you’ll find that potential salaries are highest for candidates with specialized education and previous experience working as a nanny.

 

Confidentiality and Background

 

As you might expect, if you’re going to live with a strange family, you’ll be privy to everything that goes on in the household – including sensitive personal and financial matters.  Just like working in a medical profession, it’s very important to make sure that you maintain the confidentiality of the family’s personal affairs – no matter how tempting it is to gossip.  In addition, before you’re hired, it’s likely that you’ll need to consent to a background check.  Without question, if you have any past history of child abuse or other related issues, it will be best to choose a different career path.

 

Career Opportunities

 

If you choose not to pursue additional certification in child care, your opportunities for career advancement will be somewhat limited.  That said, if you’re experienced at your job, you can always try to gain employment with families that will pay you a higher wage, regardless of your education level.  Depending on your personal interests and lifestyle choices, you may find that being a nanny gives you the opportunity to travel all over the world, without paying a thing.

 

When people think of careers, they typically think about building stability and continuity into their lives. Unfortunately, if you become a nanny, you may find that building a stable lifestyle is somewhat difficult, since you may not be living on your own.  At the same time, if you’re hired as a full-time nanny, you may find it difficult to maintain a personal life outside of work and you may notyou’re your family as often as you’d like.  That said, if you want the opportunity to travel and be able to work in almost any community, being a nanny may be an ideal choice for you.