Monday, March 28, 2011

More nanny woes

I swear I’m jinxed when it comes to nannies. In less than a year and a half, Miya has had 5 different care-givers. I’ve tried such things as getting nannies to sign a contract with a required period of notice – that seems to make no difference what-so-ever. Of the 5 nannies, 3 have left with less than 24-hours notice.

Well, I shouldn’t say 3. The latest didn’t exactly quit – unfortunately she spent part of her weekend in hospital with a serious knee injury and is now on crutches and with a full leg brace –certainly not in the position to care for 2 toddlers. Of course I don’t blame her for her injury or for being unable to come in to work; perhaps I should apologize to her for falling victim to my nanny curse.

In the past when my nannies ditched me, I would scramble to take time off work and stay home. This week, that simply wasn’t possible. Luckily the other family with whom we share care have some contacts and I was sent a phone number of a possible care-giver around 7 p.m. last night. I phoned her and amazingly she was available to come the next morning at 9 a.m.

My daughter is always more resilient than I give her credit for. When she met her new, sudden care-giver this morning it was almost as if she was making an effort to allay my fears (odd role-reversal there). She reached to be picked up by the new nanny within minutes of meeting her and proudly showed her around the house, showing where she sleeps and her favourite toys. She actually seemed rather unfazed about the whole change, simply accepting that today someone new would be spending time with her.

All’s well that ends well. M seemed to have had a good day – going about her usual routine and taking the change in stride. This woman can come again tomorrow and her friend will come for the following two days. Next week is still up in the air, but for now I am taking this one day at a time, grateful for small mercies, a resilient daughter, and the kindness of strangers.

1 comment:

  1. Yes! Kids are resilient. We have done home care with The Pud and the only draw back is that you are at the mercy of the life of your care provider. In 5 years Pud had 4 providers - two of which had to give up their homecare due to divorce. Hoping that this post was the last time you had to do the "Nanny Shuffle"

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