4 days ago
Women Who Were Nannies For Wealthy Families Are Exposing Secrets About What The Job Is Really Like, And This Career Path Is Not For The Weak
Being a nanny definitely comes with its challenges. In fact, some have publicly shared the unbelievable texts they get from parents just to spread awareness:
However, when it comes to nannying for extremely wealthy families, you may encounter a whole new set of obstacles. Here are some of the surprising things current and former nannies on Reddit have to say about it:
1."$100,000+ a year is a standard full-time nanny rate because you're working about 75 hours a week."
—u/stephelan
2."While they are otherwise very reasonable people, on food delivery night, if the kids can't agree on where to order from, they all order from separate restaurants. With the seamless fees the way they are right now, and tips, that's easily an extra $50 or more vs. them ordering from one restaurant."
—u/ssseltzer
3."They'll often get amazing packages that they won't open for WEEKS. And they have a room just for all the gifts they receive for any occasion. They will slowly go through all the gifts throughout the year. A lot of them get donated without the kids even opening them, most of which are personalized specially for the kid. They'll have someone come to decorate their inside Christmas tree and then come back and take it all down. Someone comes to hide their Easter eggs, too. They also have outdoor heated flooring all over their yard. I was so impressed with this, lol."
—u/Lalablacksheep646
4."Obviously, the pay and benefits can be awesome, but I've noticed I'm expected to basically parent the child rather than being a supplemental caregiver. The family I work for is so wealthy that they can afford around-the-clock care, even when BOTH parents are home/not working. The mom does not work, and the dad has a very flexible schedule. They genuinely would just prefer to pay someone to be the primary caregiver. For that reason, it can be really emotionally draining. I'm expected to talk about body changes, needing deodorant, body confidence, etc. I think back on my own childhood, and having my mom talk to me about these life experiences was so impactful and strengthened our bond..."
"It's a complicated issue because I love the family and the job. I know the parents are grateful for me, but I can't help thinking the kids would be better off if they had a deeper, more connected relationship with their parents, even if that meant fewer hours and less money for me in the long run.
I have another family I work with who are more 'upper middle class' and both have full-time jobs. When they come home, they want nothing more than to spend time with their kids since they haven't seen them all day. I cannot say the same is true for the ultra rich family I mentioned above."
—u/popkiwibanana
"I have found that working for the ultra wealthy is decidedly not for me. It seems great up pay! Benefits! Travel! But I found that the wealthier they are, the more out of touch they are. It made me realize how much normal stuff I took for granted working in middle-class homes, including how they relate to their children. The wealthy I worked for often seem to have families for appearances, but never want to develop relationships with them. We simply had different values. Sometimes it depends on how the wealth was acquired (for example, working for celebrities differs from finance). Once people haven't heard 'no' for a while, have a full household staff, fly private, etc., they seem to have ridiculous expectations over the stupidest things."
—u/singoneiknow
5."The amount of clothing. OMG. I'm contracted to also do cleaning/organizing after bedtime since I'm a night nanny. Every week, the mom purchases the equivalent of a new wardrobe for herself and her daughters. I am tasked with making this all fit in their respective closets. Everything is overflowing. Everyone's closets are FULL of clothing with the tags still on. They order catering-sized meals from restaurants and eat those throughout the week. Also, they have huge amounts of snacks. I organize and stock the pantry. That shit will be FULL and the mom will still walk in with another Costco order. They leave the country a lot. They have season passes to Disney. We live in Michigan."
—u/dammitbarbara
6."Broken dishwasher? No problem…just use all paper products for the week! Who could imagine handwashing dishes? Kids need to do something difficult? Take them to Target after as a reward. Every time. Even if it's a $50 toy, at least there's no meltdown! The food not even the money so much as it is the principle. Truly heartbreaking to see so much food bought, and thrown away."
—u/Sea_Contest_4424
7."The family I work for did a complete garage remodel, and while I was going through stuff to put away, I found the equivalent of a thousand dollars worth of Tiffany's baby stuff. Apparently the dad was supposed to send that gift to his best friend's first kid in 2017."
—u/nanny1128
8."Every year, the family I work for goes to a beach destination for rich people, and they rent a whole beach villa. One year the mom was sitting with me feeding her kid breakfast, and she mentioned that the villa was really crappy compared to last year. I was like, 'Yeah, you are so right! This one has a horrible view of the ocean! And the decor is really outdated.' And she was like, 'Right??!!' Then later, I was thinking to myself, baby girl, you will never in your life be able to afford to even spend one night in this house on your own. What the actual hell. It's easy to get used to things and take them for granted."
—u/Anxious_Host2738
9."They have no concept of what anything really costs. The dad I nanny for handed me $50 for a cheap salad I got him for lunch one day."
—u/jeezjulia
10."The mom I nanny for has EVERYTHING I wonder if they ever go in person to the store. I understand delivery every once in a while, but they get bags and bags of groceries and boxes from department stores every day. I just can't imagine not going shopping for my own stuff, nor can I imagine the expenses of all these services. Same with the vacations they take."
—u/nps2790
11."I work for a middling-wealthy family, have been for two years. The kids have no concept of how much money their parents have. The younger one doesn't realize why it's inappropriate to joke about how much money she has stashed away for 'chores.' She doesn't realize that it's more than I earn in weeks, and that she didn't actually earn it."
—u/847362na
12."I do tutoring for a wealthy family, and despite the fact that they seem to have come from fairly average backgrounds, they really have no concept of how normal people think about money. I was talking about visiting the library, and they were confused by the fact that I didn't just buy all the books I wanted to read. They also pay me every six months or so, and seem confused that I want money more often. They fly their kids home from their high school sports tours (they play in tournaments all over the continent) and think nothing of it."
—u/Alsadius
13."The drama is just like TV. The dad in the family I nannied for had a secret daughter and another family for five years. Money was just thrown around. A $500 rocking chair is the wrong shade of orange? Just throw it in the garbage and go buy a new one. Daughters are fighting with each other over their Barbie dream houses? Calm them down by taking them to the American Girl store for new dolls, and then get them a blowout afterwards."
—u/pinkpanda24
14."I see cool gadgets in their home, and I always look them up to see if I can get one, but they're usually unreleased and just teased online. I'm so confused how they have stuff not even out on the market yet 😩."
—u/birtheducator
younger sister nannies for a wealthy couple, and she's mentioned a few things that really threw her off at first. The biggest thing was how uninvolved they are with their daughter's life. She was born early in October, and by the end of the month, my sister was already spending 80+ hours a week with her. The husband has only been home one day since she started working for them, and the wife is gone from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. They've offered to pay for work on her car countless times, and the wife gave my sister all of her Christmas decorations from last year. Most of them still had their tags on them. She spent $20 per ornament and didn't even use them."
—u/IslandoftheMoths
16."My days consist of trying to keep the rich kids I nanny out of the 10-foot fountain in their entryway 🫠."
—u/PartyOkra7994
17."A good friend of mine is a nanny for a very wealthy couple. He is the source of the wealth, which is largely inherited. He has a job, but it's the kind of job where he never has to show up or do much work at all, and it pays him hundreds of thousands a year. Every day, the wife goes to her job and the husband goes to his floor of the house where nobody is allowed to bother him. He spends the day smoking pot and lazing about like he's Jeff Lebowski. That's it. That's all he does. But he doesn't want his kids bothering him, so he locks himself away and pays my friend to raise his kids for him. My friend likes her job, but I'll never be able to have much respect for a dude who has all the time and money in the world and he uses it to sequester himself away from his own kids and watch movies all day."
—u/MidasVirago
Have you ever been a nanny — or are you currently one — for a wealthy family? Share your experience in the anonymous comments form below, and you may be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed article!
