The nanny

Do you remember the series about Fran, the nanny working for Mr Sheffield? It was that I searched for another nanny on the internet and I bumped into her otherwise I wouldn't have remembered her. Fran wasn't my kind of nanny but I did watch the series, perhaps not each one of them but still. I believe it ran for at least six years.

The most famous nanny will be Mary Poppins. A nanny that brings magic in the life of two children, bored and neglected children. Today I find the interests and the parents disturbing and wonder if already back then this Mary Poppins film tried to educate and brainwash the people. Was Mary Poppins meant for children at all?

If I may believe all those videos about families with nasty children the supernanny visits, terrible children born out of boredom combined with being neglected by their parents, I start thinking normal children don't exist.

If you watch too much supernanny you might start thinking well-raised children are rare. I'll be honest with you. I'm glad this isn't the world I live in and my children don't behave that bad, they never did. All that screaming, fighting and hitting each other, those never-ending dramas about everything and nothing, the chaos those people live in would drive me crazy. I admit I do not understand how parents can function normally and how it's possible their family life became so horrible. I do not understand either why they wanted more children. If it's so difficult to handle the first child why not give yourself a break? It's nothing to be ashamed about to admit raising a child is a hard job and sacrificing everything for your children is not what you are able or want to do. Knowing yourself, your needs, your priorities is a must. Most people don't because there's no room to figure this out. We rush into a relationship, children without any idea what to expect. Most parents didn't grow up with 10 siblings or more and the chance they helped with the household, tasks, caring for their siblings is nihil.

As a parent I know it's exhausting to always have children around. Children who ask for attention, help, advice, who want to play, talk with you no matter how tired you are. I don't find it easy to be a parent. I always found it hard to spend time with my children next to being a working mom. I did, we went out, had quality time together and I multitasked way more than once to save as much time as possible. Although my children enjoyed, had fun I rarely did. If you need to schedule time to be with your children, for going out it is not relaxing but exhausting. One of the first things I gave up on was going out and having visitors. Dressing up, getting everything arranged, needing a babysitter and all the extra costs are the last thing you need if you are tired after a day of work. I preferred to stay home, do the most necessary tasks and go to bed with the hope of not wakening up in the middle of the night. My life was about working 24/7. Raising children is work, hard work. One hour of having fun outside in the playground or simple things like painting or baking cookies with the children always resulted in extra work. If you do something with children they get dirty, accidents happen and with that more work, more stress.

I wonder if a nanny could have given me a hand. I don't think someone like the supernanny would. For sure she does a great job but she's not the kind of person I need. I've had several babysitters but with most of them bad experiences. It didn't work out well for my children. No attention at all, dumped by the babysitter at her father's home so the sitter could work somewhere else, a daycare that didn't really care about my child. If your child changes from one moment to the next in the presence of a nanny into a bunch of stress something is seriously wrong. No Fran could have helped me or my children and I would have never hired one of those royal nannies either. I'm picky if it comes to the people I trust my children with plus I want them to be raised with my norms and values, not someone else's besides not each nanny can be trusted. If you have children of your own you might have bad experiences with nannies or a babysitter not to forget to mention some teachers.

Although it's easy to blame the parents for children their behaviour I truly believe some children are born like rotten eggs. A sociopath is not an ordinary child and children like these can not be raised in the same way as a child that always listens and obeys no matter what you ask from them. If it comes to that each child needs to be raised in a different, individual way which means different nannies are needed as well. Different skills and different ages. Personally, I would not go for a nanny without children of her own.

Being a nanny isn't always easy.