The Best Nannies Resist the Urge to be Average

Surround Yourself with Positive Influences: Don’t Let Nannies with Bad Attitudes Rub Off On You

I feel like I am finally reaching the salary and professional respect that I have been striving for in the past 20-years working as a nanny. There is no doubt that there is lot of luck is involved in finding a great nanny job. But, while talking with other employees that work in the same household as I do, I realize that a lot of my career success is attributed to maintaining an optimistic, pro-active, flexible, and a professional attitude — as well as luck.

The best nannies keep their jobs and earn their raises by making themselves essential to their employers. The best nannies are willing to pitch-in beyond just basic childcare duties to help the parents as well as caring for the kids. The best nannies resist the urge to be average at their jobs.

In 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People David Niven explains that each day we are surrounded by average people who can easily entice us into being more like them. Niven says that it’s too easy to mirror the bad behaviors the people we see and are in touch with daily. Caregivers with bad work habits can easily rub off on us.

With that in mind I want to encourage other nannies to not allow others with bad attitudes to convince them to sacrifice their goals, individuality, professionalism, character, and strong work ethic. To be better than an average nanny they need to surround themselves with nannies, au pairs, and parents with qualities they want to possess.

It doesn’t matter if lazy, disrespectful nannies gossip about their employers or that they don’t like their jobs. Nannies are only hired to help the parents that have hired them. It is best to either ignore or disassociate with other caregivers that drag-you-down.

Of course nannies must learn to be around people they don’t like at times too. There is no point in being mean towards others or alienating themselves from other nannies. But to be successful at work, nannies must simply focus on doing their jobs to the best of their ability and not worry what other nannies do or do not do at their jobs.

100 Simple Secrets of Successful People, The: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It