Schools for Nannies Meet Pressing Needs of Modern Mothers

There is a poster at the school of a baby in a packing crate like a computer comes in. The poster reads, “Too Bad That They Don’t Come With Directions.” That’s what we’re doing here in the program. We’re learning directions on how to raise children.

Nanny student Patricia Sanders

When you hear the term nanny, what comes to mind? Turn-of-the-century proper prissy lady with lovely English accent in charge of elegantly dressed tykes? Wendy and Michael’s dog, Nanny, in Peter Pan? Mary Poppins?

Nannies are coming out of storybooks, across the seas and into America in the ‘80s.

There is a National Nanny Newsletter in the United States and a Southern California Assn. of Nannies. In June, the second International Nanny Conference will be held at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif.

In September, Grossmont College began its Nanny Household-Management Program, the only one in the San Diego area at a community college, and one of approximately 33 nanny training programs either being offered or in planning stages in colleges in the United States and Canada. There are 36 private nanny training schools in the United States, Australia and England, most of which have started in the last two to five years. In Australia, there’s even a Dial-a-Nanny service now.

According to 1986 figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 19 million U.S. mothers in the labor force with children younger than 17. Figures for 1980, the most recent available, showed nearly 140,000 such women in San Diego County.

‘Great Demand’

While a growing number of women seeks employment outside the home, others are willing to take on child care duties. “But not enough, so far,” according to Ann Daluiso, coordinator of family and consumer studies at Grossmont College.

“The idea of a nanny is something this country isn’t familiar with,” said Daluiso, one of the creators of Grossmont’s Nanny Household-Management Program. “The dilemma is that there is a great demand for nannies, and so far, not enough nannies being trained. In spite of various day-care situations, baby sitters, and household help from Mexico and Central America, more qualified nannies are desired than are presently available,” she said.

“We are on a list of colleges that train nannies and we get calls all the time from potential employers, many from the East Coast.” Daluiso added that the ratio of current placement openings per nanny is 15 to 1.

Nannies are usually not respected in the United States as they are in countries like England and in Australia but, said Daluiso, “becoming a nanny is a viable alternative for those who wish to provide child care.”

“In Europe,” said Eva Harkness, coordinator of the Grossmont program, “there is a long history of nannies caring for children. There is prestige. For example, Winston Churchill is supposed to have had a wonderful nanny. And, of course, Charles and Diana hired a nanny. Here we generally think taking care of children doesn’t take intelligence. But finally we are crawling out of that attitude. Mothers need acknowledgement--and nannies (do), too.”

Grossmont College’s nanny training program hopes to bring about a more positive attitude and bring status to the endeavor by adding skills and services that can make the nanny an invaluable part of a household that can afford her.

“Our thought in starting the program (in September) was to help provide the best help we could for individuals in a family setting. The traditional family no longer exists. Twenty-five to 30 years ago women were in the home. Now all of that has changed. We felt nanny training could help fill a need.”

Eleven women will complete the program (which includes 144 hours of work or volunteer experience in a day-care center, preschool or home) and receive a certificate from Grossmont Tuesday. Five of the students are already employed as nannies.

An associate’s degree in nanny household management can be obtained with the completion of six additional units of family and consumer studies classes, plus the college’s general education requirements. The Grossmont course is funded by the federal Regional Occupational Program for vocational study. The federal program provides tuition, books and job placement.

“The goal of our program,” said Daluiso, “is to be the best possible care-giver to the child. In addition, the trained nanny is supportive of the parents and is education-minded. It is also true that today there isn’t always an extended family, so there is often no one to show new parents how to handle a baby.”

Besides the individual care she can give, the nanny offers more than a day care center, Daluiso said. “Nannies are trained to be family care-givers, to understand the interaction of all members.”

Fee Is $200-$250 Weekly

Hiring a nanny may not be for the average middle-class family. “Not everyone can afford the $200-$250 weekly fee for a nanny, but it is possible to share a nanny, as long as the number of children doesn’t exceed six,” Daluiso said.

Jodi and Barry Meisenberg are new parents who sought and found a nanny to care for their infant daughter.

Jodi Meisenberg, a financial planner, said: “I thought with one infant it would be better to have care in the home. Later, day care might be better. But now the baby needs individual care. We didn’t want our baby neglected. I was willing to pay more in order to have someone give full attention to her.

“My husband and I both have to be at work by 7 a.m. We didn’t want to have to pack her up and take her out of the house so early. I have friends who take their infants to day care, and often the babies get diaper rash, colds, and sometimes are even bitten. I wouldn’t have gone back to work if I hadn’t felt comfortable (leaving the baby).

“I contacted two or three agencies in town and discovered they all charged a finder’s fee for a nanny, so I decided to try putting an ad in the paper. I received a dozen calls and eliminated half right away.”

(San Diego’s Naturally Nannies Agency has been placing nannies in homes for eight years. Janice Campbell of that agency says that all clients are charged 75% of the first month’s salary paid to a nanny in exchange for the agency’s services. “We place approximately 15 to 20 nannies per month,” she said. “The need is absolutely increasing, almost weekly.”)

Janet Hunt, a student in the Grossmont program, was among those who answered the Meisenbergs’ ad. Meisenberg said she felt comfortable right away with Hunt. The fact that Hunt had raised three children and was in the nanny training program were good qualifications, Meisenberg said. “In addition, the program requires a TB test and even fingerprinting. Also Janet has learned CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and is studying child development.

‘Working Out Very Well’

“It’s working out very well. I’m happy. And I work near our home, so I can see my baby on lunch hours, and sometimes Janet brings her to the office.”

Janet Hunt, 51, grew up in England and always dreamed of being a nanny. “But you need a lot of education in England to do it, and so I got into the electronics field instead and worked for 35 years. Then I was laid off in October, and so I decided to look for something different. I like children, and also there is a need for good-quality child care.

“I don’t get paid as much as I used to, but that’s not what it is all about. There is a need, and I am fulfilling myself.”

Hunt cares for the Meisenberg baby during the day and takes courses at Grossmont at night and on Saturday morning. “It is a hectic schedule (with work and school). I didn’t think there was as much to know as there is. When the baby sleeps, I often do homework, and my employers don’t mind.”

Hunt’s duties in the home are focused on the baby’s needs. “I take care of the child, and this includes feeding, bathing, doing her washing, taking her for walks. When a child is older, duties may include taking her to dance lessons or to the dentist. It’s like being a substitute mother. I do everything a mother might do, except clean the house.”

A typical day for a nanny may also include getting older children off to school, then caring for a baby or playing creatively with a toddler.

Having her own children (she has three sons, now in their 20s) helps, but some things have changed,” Hunt said. “For example, when my boys were babies, it was customary to start solid food, baby cereal, at 6 weeks of age. Now babies are kept on milk for six months because it is believed their digestive tracts are not ready for the solid food. And, of course, we use disposable diapers much more now. In fact, they didn’t even have them in England when my children were born.”

Times as Nanny Were Best

Eva Harkness has a master’s degree in psychology with a child development emphasis and training from a private nanny program in Claremont. Harkness worked as a nanny in San Francisco and Santa Barbara for 3 1/2 years before coming to Grossmont. “The times spent as a nanny were some of my best times,” she said.

The students in Grossmont’s program range in age from 19 to 62, according to Harkness. “All have a love for babies and children--or they’ve been mothers and that has been satisfying to them.”

The Grossmont courses include “Introduction to the Nanny Profession,” “Food and Nutrition for Children,” “Health, Safety and CPR for Children,” “Human Development” and “Cognitive and Creative Experiences for Children.”

Nannies in training at the school are taught, according to Harkness, such subtleties as helping mealtime be an easy and comfortable time, how to plan children’s parties, how to enter into an established family unit, how to discipline and how to work with other staff in a household.

Patricia Sanders, 33, was director of the preschool program at the Pacific Beach YWCA for five years, has been a teacher for Head Start, and is now a student in the Grossmont nanny program.

“I didn’t want to work on a 12-to-1 ratio as in a preschool anymore,” she said. “In a home situation I can work with two or three children. And many families have good educational toys for children. I have worked for a child psychologist, and she had a better stock of toys than the YWCA. It was like my own little preschool.”

Sanders, who had worked as a baby sitter before joining the program, and now occasionally takes temporary nanny positions while in school, said: “I often feel a part of the family. I feel sympathy and understanding from them, and that’s usually a plus. They (the employers) are like your family. You’re glad you have them. And I love children.”

Attends Other Courses

Sanders also is attending Mesa College, where she will receive an associate’s degree in child development this year, along with the certificate in nanny household-management from Grossmont.

Some nanny situations are pure fairy tale, according to Daluiso and Harkness. “One nanny, who is on the advisory board for our program, works for a doctor, a single parent in Idyllwild. Another nanny, a friend of mine, works in Saudi Arabia for an oil sheik who has a harem,” Harkness said.

The nanny program is not just for young women, Daluiso said. “The typical student is a young woman who likes children, and who likes the idea of being a family member--and also the 40-plus woman who finds herself in the position of needing to go to work--a divorcee or widow who at mid-life is not trained in other things. If she enjoyed child-raising, she may enjoy being a nanny.

“The potential is wonderful. Young women can stay in the field a few years, then move on. It can be a time to look at options, to live in another part of the country, to have experience with children. And the program lends itself to additional training. Some may eventually go back to school, to the child development field or gerontology.

“Men can do it too,” Daluiso added. “We’d be delighted to have men.”

“If I have kids someday,” said Sanders, “I’ll be super-mom. Now, I’ll be super-nanny.

“I’d like to find a professional family, who can afford me--who wants me to be with their children, and all that goes with that. I’m qualified. I won’t have to take the first job, but I can choose the family that is best for me, and one in which I am best for them.

“Look out, world. Here we come!”