What to do when hiring a nanny

While some women are lucky to have relative or friends who assist with little or no pay others have to go for strangers. Some nannies solely look after the children while others combine looking after the children with doing other chores in the home.Children are prized treasures in a home therefore parents must put certain […]

While some women are lucky to have relative or friends who assist with little or no pay others have to go for strangers.
Some nannies solely look after the children while others combine looking after the children with doing other chores in the home.
Children are prized treasures in a home therefore parents must put certain things into consideration before hiring a nanny to ensure the children and the family at large is not put in harm’s way.
This is with the backdrop of so many crimes or evil being carried by some nannies and domestic servants these days.
There are several cases where nannies turned children as young as few months old into sex slaves, abducted and in worse cases maimed and killed the children in their care.
It is important for parents to know that the influence of a nanny on a child has both short term and long term physical and psychological effects on their children. That young Johnny who is addicted to drugs or other things today may have been initiated into it in childhood by his nanny.
Your children could also be predisposed to diseases from their nanny. A good nanny on the other hand could turn your children to well behaved and loving ones.
The points on what to consider and do espoused in this article does not apply to when strangers are employed as nannies alone but even to blood relatives because children  are no less susceptible to dangers from strangers than they are to relatives.
Firstly, hiring a nanny according to experts is not something to be done in a rush no matter how imminent the time of resumption of work is or seemingly perfect the nanny or referral looks. One must put safety first no matter how busy one is.
The first step is to do a lot of background checks, ensure you carry out  long discussions and ask the prospective nannies  a lot of questions.
A few weeks ago the media was awash with the story of the Orekoya kids who were kidnapped by a nanny their mother hired after posting an advert on OLX, an online sales portal.  Thankfully the children were later rescued and the culprit arrested.
There was also the case of the Ugandan maid, 22year old Jolly Tumuhiirwe who was filmed beating, kicking and stamping on an 18-month-old child.
The Orekoyas were reported to have hired the nanny immediately she contacted them and only spoke on phone with her supposed guarantor because the previous nanny had left abruptly and Mrs Orekoya needed to resume work that day.
The Ugandan maid on her part had told the court during her trial that the attack was revenge after she was beaten by the child’s mother. The Child’s mother however denied beating her. The The video footage that led to the case was from a camera the child’s father, Eric Kamanzi, had installed in his home after noticing that his daughter was bruised and limping.
According to Mrs Rebecca Yero , a parenting expert and counselor  the first thing parents or guardians should do when hiring a nanny is to run a security check on the person or people .
 “It is better to know who they are, where they are from and if possible go there. Also the person has to be more than a child. It is good to know the village the nanny is from. It is also good the people you want to hire have guarantors, like someone who has landed property for instance and that people know. Because the nanny can take you to a particular person who may be a fraud too. So other people around there should know him or her too. All this is part of the security check,” she said.
She said parents  shouldn’t be in a hurry to employ people as nannies and if possible it is good to contact the former employers of the nanny. “The nanny should be able to tell you the former place she worked.  I am not sure these organizations that parade themselves as nanny agencies do enough security checks; like the case of the nanny that ran away with those children, if the company had carried out security checks they would have known,” she said.
Yero also advised people to also pray before hiring a nanny saying having a nanny is like handing over the lives of your children and your family to the nanny as they can decide to poison everyone in the house.
“More so once they are hired, the nannies should be treated as human beings. For instance, if you are also training them in school or impacting their lives one way or the other they will be more serious. In some homes you see that the food of their dog is better than that of the nanny. Some people also beat up adult nannies, this is not right and can make the nanny take out the frustration on the child when you are not around,” she advised
The child expert also advised families to be very careful and observant once they have hired the nanny especially when they notice a little bit of fear in their children when the nanny is around. She said they should ask questions and also observe in case the children themselves are not speaking out.
“Also I don’t think it is wise to keep a nanny at home without telling your neighbours to keep an eye on her. Where the woman cannot come home during break, or pay surprise visits, the neighbor should be permitted to pay surprise visits to the home to monitor the child. I know that in the cities everybody is on his own but people should try to be free with their neighbours,” said Yero.
She also advised parents to try to be close to their children saying mothers should take flexible jobs that enable them work from home or stay not too late from home. She said it is bad for the children for both parents to stay away from the home all day and come in late adding that when they abandon their children in the care of the nanny and they are subjected to her excesses, the children’s lives will never be normal again.
Yero added that parents should not just think of providing material things for children but rather spend time with them, discuss with them and ask how their day was when they come home.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti has also advised parents and guardians not to be in a hurry to employ domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, drivers and gardeners without doing background checks on them.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV Sunrise Daily show, after the arrest of the woman who allegedly kidnapped the Orekoya kids, Aderanti said: “To forestall this kind of unfortunate incident, Lagosians who want to employ the services of domestic staff should visit the divisional police or area commands within their locality to seek a police profiling of the said staff. Seeking a profiling of employed domestic staff by the police divisions and area commanders is easier and bears no cost-implication,” he said.
The police boss said the profiling of the domestic staff before they are employed also helps to check if they have had any previous criminal background, and as well helps to get their data such as fingerprint, photograph, name and other personal information.
“This profiling step helps the police to quickly and efficiently arrest the situation should the employed domestic staff engage in any criminal activity after being employed,” Aderanti advised.
Robin McClure a child care expert said parents should screen potential caregivers carefully, ask lots of questions, and check resources. “Ask your family, friends for names and resources. The best way to find your dream child care provider for your kids is to ask around and find out who has had the best experiences or how they found their nanny.”
She also advised parents not to feel guilty about hiring a nanny saying leaving kids while at work is an emotion that working parents simply need to get over.
Narrating her experience with a bad nanny, Kimberly DeMucha Kalil, a mother said, “We rushed the process, and we had no idea what we were looking for in a nanny. In addition to unclear expectations, during our nanny hunt we failed to allow enough time for the process. Rushing the process meant we skipped valuable steps that likely could have prevented our nanny nightmare,” she said.
According to Caroline Malkin, co-owner of Trusting Connections, a nanny agency, a suitable candidate should provide three references, and you should personally call each one.
If possible, Malkin suggests having the potential nanny interact with your child during the interview process. Seeing how someone interacts with your little one speaks volumes.
Malkin counsels against relying solely on online searches for a background check and suggests hiring a private detective. She advises starting with a trial period before you commit long-term to a candidate.
Lastly, parents should be wary of hiring any person less than 12 years as a nanny as Nigeria’s  new act referred to as Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan on March 26th   this year, prohibits the employment of a child below the age of 12 years as a domestic servant, and the exploitation of a child under the age of 18 years who is employed as a domestic help is also prohibited, among others.