Monday Moxie: Privacy Protected
by Greta Schraer with an introduction by Alice Shaffer
This past week, Greta shared her High5 Friday on Privacy Protected over at Cincynanny. I have been a live in professional nanny for the past 15 years. Her post really brought to light some of things i have inquired and heard about from other nannies. I wanted to share it with you all as “privacy” is a boundary that is often stepped over if we realize it or not.
Sometimes being a nanny is strange when you think about it. “Living” in someone else’s household. There is surely many ways your work home is run differently than your home-home. I occasionally have a thought, “didn’t I already do this today? Oh yeah, I did… at my other house.” It is amazing how comfortable we can become in a house that is not our own. We know where they keep the toilet paper, plunger, and carpet cleaner – in fact some nannies actually purchase and decide where to store the items! This is just one example of how it can be easy to forget we are working.
I find myself giving high fives, snuggles and zerberts to children; giving advice, good luck and thanks to the parents. The nanny-family relationship can grow into a very comfortable, easy-going relationship. Whenever I come home from a trip, I can look at my house and tell what my husband did all weekend. I notice the garbage, dishes, and items moved from a usual spot. These clues share what his time was like while I was away. It is the same with our work family, we’ve come to know this household so well, that when something is out of place it is obvious. This can be a great thing, as it allows us to step in and take over without interruption. Smooth transitions are ideal!
To read the rest of High5 Friday: Privacy Protected
Posted in Monday Moxie | Tagged CincyNanny, Greta Schraer, Monday Moxie, nanny, professional nanny
Bravo!
When I owned my agency this is one of the things we would screen candidates for prior to accepting them- we’d take a good look at their social networking profiles ( we used to friend candidates specifically for this reason and most would friend back). There were several nanny candidates that were disqualified due to their serious lack of privacy errors that we found: tons and tons of photos of their charges with full names, details about playdates they were going on, ranting and raving about their jobs, telling too many details about the parents personal lives… and the list went on. We’d look for this type of behavior on nanny message boards, as well (what you didn’t know that being an agency owner involves a little detective work?
). I will never forget the candidate who argued with me and threatened to sue the agency over not hiring her due to these things citing that “only her fb friends could see those things- so she WAS being private!” Right. Her employers would have been thrilled to learn that she shared with her closest 553 friends that her dadboss just lost his job and was a real pain in the neck to have around the house during her shift- they would have also loved to have seen the 100 photos that she had posted of their children, first and last names… :-O
Great article Greta!!
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