Finding Proactive, Trustworthy and Nurturing Nannies

 

Take a few minutes to do a quick Google search and you will find listings galore for PROACTIVE nannies. From Denver, CO to Redding, CA to Atlanta, GA, families are looking for a proactive nanny. What does that mean? What does a proactive nanny look like in real life? One family wants a proactive, easygoing nanny. Another family wants an energetic, proactive nanny. Proactive and trustworthy, proactive, thoughtful and nurturing — these are all real life listings for nannies. There seems to be a wide range of expectations attached to the word proactive. It might be impossible to cover everyone’s idea of what proactive means, but let’s try to make a little sense of such an oft-used word.

 

Proactive Nannies Defined

Proactive is an adjective defined as “(of a person, place policy, or action) creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened.” That seems pretty clear. Following that definition, a proactive nanny is someone that creates or controls a situation, for her family and her charges, by causing things to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened, which would be reactive.

 

Planning

Nannies — families are really looking for you to partner with them in raising their children, running their homes and keeping their lives on track. Between the demands on their time, resources and energy, parents have realized that the best benefit for their family is to hire a nanny that can help them stay on track. Here are some concrete ways that you can bring your A game when the P(roactive) word comes up. The secret is another P word. Planning.

 

Menu planning and grocery shopping – plan out meals a month in advance. Allow for special occasions, holiday meals and special treats.

 

Clothing and organization – plan out specific days of the week to do laundry. Perhaps Monday is for dark colors, Wednesday is for white colors and Friday is for bedding and towels. Once a quarter have a specific day to go through children’s closets and purge outgrown or worn out clothing.

 

School Activities – this is perhaps one of the largest areas with which parents ask for assistance. Make sure you have all school calendars, class calendars, activity calendars, and that sweet teacher’s email as a favorite. Take a look at the school year and schedule out each activity on a monthly calendar.

 

After only mentioning a couple of areas, a pattern will start to become clear. Plan, Plan, Plan. A proactive nanny is a nanny that looks for ways to create calm in chaos by breaking down the big jobs into small, manageable tasks. In each area of her nanny family’s life, she looks for ways to exert order and anticipate the needs her family might encounter. She brings her own personality to each endeavor, but she is always in charge.