The Working Gal's Guide to Babyville by Paige Hobey

Author:Paige Hobey [PAIGE HOBEY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2012-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Baby-Sitter/Nanny

First, the semantics. What exactly do you call a woman who arrives at your house in the morning and cares for your child until you return from work? You have two options: nanny or baby-sitter, and as far as I can tell, the only difference between these terms is the mind-set of the person using them. To employ an actual “nanny” seems very nouveau posh, very “We’re popping out to the country home this weekend, so alert the nanny. And the butler. And the rest of the household staff.” It’s a title with attitude. Baby-sitter, on the other hand, brings to mind Saturday nights back in high school giving the neighbor’s kids pizza while their parents went bowling. Not pretentious, just practical.

I’m guessing the referral agencies may have had something to do with the popularization of “nanny.” They probably realized early on they could charge a lot more to connect working parents with an actual nanny (So professional! So Mary Poppins for the new millennium!) than with your basic baby-sitter. And they would argue nannies have a certain level of experience, a certain career orientation to their child care role. But I know women with sterling credentials and a long-term kid care commitment who call themselves baby-sitters, so go figure. I still say it’s marketing spin. In any case, either term is accurate, but let’s keep it real and use baby-sitter here.

The upsides of a regular baby-sitter? Your child receives one-on-one care, and you don’t even have to get him dressed before scrambling out the door in the morning. A baby-sitter may perform light housekeeping as well. Of course, by light housekeeping I’m talking about so light you barely notice it. Like putting the baby’s bottle in the dishwasher after using it. And maybe, if she’s really inspired, pressing the start button when the dishwasher is full. Don’t expect her to do anything as viciously time-consuming as removing the clean dishes and placing them in the cabinets. That kind of so-called heavy housekeeping falls under the “I have to be free to focus on your child” copout. (Silent response in the mind of every working mom with a sitter: “If I’m able to care for this kid and get everything around the house done during naps, why can’t you?”) In any case, even the occasional dishwasher run still feels luxurious, so we all take what we can get.

The downsides? Cost and paperwork. You can call her a baby-sitter, but she still gets the salary with attitude: $8 to $17 an hour these days depending on her experience, education, job responsibilities, where you live, and the number of children you have. (And you thought twins were tough on the clothing budget.) Some parents fork over the premium price for solo attention year one, and then they switch to day care for more socialization and lower long-term expense. Beyond your baby-sitter’s salary, legally employing her may feel like running a small business. Granted, many full-time sitters are paid under the table in cash, but this is illegal and really problematic if you run for president one day.

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