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Indera is just wonderful. She is always happy and clearly loves her job. She is kind and fun and as for the practicalities, she is always on time and very flexible.
Mrs Carter
I just wanted to let you know that Elizabeth is fantastic! She is great with the boys, and so helpful with such a calm and pleasant way of being. We are so happy with her.
Christine
I wanted to pass along how happy I am to have Fatima working with our family. After just 11/2 days, I can see that she is a perfect fit for for child. We are lucky to have her.
Mrs Irvine
Morningside Nannies was outstanding. The process was stress free and the caliber of applicants was far superior to that of other agencies. Morningside Nannies was thorough in their review and timely presentation of candidates.
Susan Sherman, CPA
I described the person I wanted and that’s what you found for me. Thank you.
Penny Featherston, NorAm Energy
Compared to other agencies Morningside presented a higher caliber of candidate.
Phyllis Epps, Law Professor
We put our trust in Morningside to place us with a nanny that was perfect for our family’s needs and Morningside delivered.
Client X
Morningside Nannies blew the others away!
Myron Morris, O.R. Business Manager and Dr. Audrey Winer, Pediatrician
Objective and professional with an obvious personal touch, small but important comments about each person.
Dr. Shari Rochen
Originally, I tried to find a nanny on my own and it took me much, much longer and only half of them spoke English. I had to do my own background checks. Morningside Nannies made it much easier, faster and more efficient.
Since 1998, National Nanny Recognition Week has been observed the last week of September to recognize and celebrate nannies across the United States.
NNRW was created by a group of dedicated industry leaders and nannies, and over 20 years later, it continues to live strong in the hearts and minds of nannies across the country, and internationally.
During this week, families and the community take time to honor nannies and the important work they and role they play in the lives of families.
Nanny Magazine, our sister company and the trade publication of the in-home childcare industry, is offering $5 off a one year digital subscription, bringing the cost to $16.00.
Happy National Nanny Recognition Week!
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We have heard from so many of you over the past few weeks and we’re
so proud of the work you are doing and the way you are managing through this
storm.
We often see the meme circling around that says, “Behind every sane family is a spectacular nanny.” In the midst of this pandemic, that couldn’t be more true.
While many doctors, nurses, essential employees, and frontline workers
head into the eye of the storm, their nannies are on the frontlines behind them,
caring for their children and their homes. From reassuring children who are
confused about the events of the world, to kissing boo-boos and playing school,
it’s the nannies who are meeting the needs of the children so that the parents
can meet the needs of everyone else.
These past weeks have brought job changes, tough conversations, and
hard decisions. They’ve brought information overload, conflicting advice, and a
host of emotions that you’ve had to sort through in real time. We applaud you
for navigating these challenges times and showing up when you are needed most.
For some nannies these times have brought unexpected time off, furlough,
and unemployment. For you, we encourage you to use this time to build your
resume, increase your knowledge by enrolling in training (there are many free classes
available), and prepare yourself to come out on top when this pandemic passes.
For other nannies, the times have brought an unexpected transition
to a live-in role, more hours, and additional duties. For you, we encourage you
to keep the lines of communication open with your employers and to take care of
yourself so that you too, can take care of others.
While we have some trying times ahead, we are grateful for the
service you provide. It’s your strength, encouragement, and presence that brings
some of our youngest citizens peace while their parents are in the eye of the
storm.
We’ve been reaching out to Judge Hidalgo’s office regarding the stay at home order and the impact on Texas nannies. On 3/30/20 we received the following guidance:
Nannies are allowed under the order to work. In regards to the documentation questions, at this time, the Order does not require proof that you are allowed to be outside your residence because the Order presumes that citizens will adhere to their civic duty and follow the Order for the greater good of the community. However, some organizations — such as the Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston — are encouraging employers to provide a letter to their essential employees reflecting that they are being asked to work. If your employer is an essential business and you have an identification badge for your job, you can elect to show that badge to law enforcement should you be stopped. Law enforcement is focused primarily on educating the public, but they have and will continue to stop people who they believe may be in violation of the Order.
Sincerely, The Office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo
We are receiving many calls and emails from families and nannies seeking guidance regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. While the situation continues to unfold hour by hour, we have put together some thoughts for you to consider during this time.
According to Patrick DiFiore, partner manager for GTM Payroll, there is still a lot of grey area surrounding the rules, regulations, and relief on both a federal and state level with regards to how the COVID-19 will impact household employers and employees.
Until there is defined guidance in place, the best things household employers and employees can do is open the lines of communication, abide by current work agreements and employee handbooks, follow local and national guidance, and make any and all decisions in the best interest of their families.
As you discuss the effects of the pandemic, questions nannies and parents consider may include:
Nannies
What happens if me or a family member gets sick and must self-quarantine?
What happens if my employer decides to self-quarantine and has asked me not to work?
What happens if my employer works in a high exposure risk job and I don’t feel comfortable working?
What if my work family works at a hospital and gets mandated to stay at work?
How does our work agreement address paid and unpaid time off?
What happens if I am not paid legally and can’t access any government relief or unemployment benefits?
What if I am at work and begin to feel ill?
What happens if I get exposed while at work?
How will my boss working from home affect my day?
Do I have short-term disability insurance?
What if the family’s guidance regarding social distancing differs from the CDC recommendations?
What can I do to build my skills or knowledge while I am out of work
How will our daily schedule change if the children are out of school extensively?
I am supposed to start a new job, should we change the start date?
How can we best take care of each other and ourselves during this time?
Families
What happens if I don’t want my nanny to come to work because I am not sure who she has been around?
Can I have my nanny self-quarantine with our family?
How does our work agreement address paid and unpaid time off?
What happens if my nanny is not paid legally and can’t access government relief or unemployment benefits?
What if my nanny is at work and begins to feel ill?
What happens if my nanny gets exposed while at work?
What is the protocol if the children get sick?
How will my working from home affect my nanny?
Does my nanny have short-term disability insurance?
What if the nanny’s actions regarding social distancing differs from the CDC recommendations?
How will our daily schedule change if the children are out of school extensively?
What if I work at a hospital and get mandated to stay at work?
We have a nanny scheduled to start work soon, should we change the start date?
What is my childcare contingency plan?
How can we best take care of each other and ourselves during this time?
We are in uncharted territories and for many families and nannies, the unknown of how this pandemic will affect their childcare and their wallets is frightening. Open and honest communication will set the foundation for establishing next steps until we know more.
Please find below information and guidance regarding the new coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, first identified in late December 2019.
As you may be aware, COVID-19 is spread through close
person-to person contact.
TEMPORARY AND BACK UP CARE As a result of ongoing health concerns regarding the virus, we are temporarily updating our temporary and back-up care policies as reflected below:
Please notify us if you or any member of your household has any potential exposure risk
We also ask that you do not request care if:
Your child is exhibiting symptoms including fever or cough;
Someone in your home is exhibiting symptoms; or
Someone in your home has been in close contact with a person who is showing signs of being sick.
In addition, we will not be accepting any care requests for
events, weddings or large gatherings.
For clients who have already scheduled providers, we
encourage you to plan for cancellations. Should a provider become ill or otherwise
unable to work, we will not be able to staff the position with an alternate
provider.
For clients needing temp care, we encourage you to consider
other resources as well, given that we anticipate a decline in nannies accepting
temp care requests.
PERMANENT SEARCHES
In the last 48 hours, we have begun receiving numerous
cancellations for in office interviews and client and nanny interviews. We have
had several clients pause their nanny searches and several nannies pause their
job searches due to health-related concerns.
As a result, we are taking the following action steps:
Having all office employees work from home
Conducting initial nanny screening interviews over video; all nannies screened through this method would still need to come into the office prior to being hired by a client, unless the client waves that requirement
Encouraging all clients and nannies to engage in phone or video interviews, rather than in-person interviews
Due to our system set up, our team can continue our recruiting,
reference checking, interview scheduling, background checking, answering calls and
more from a telecommuting set-up.
We will be reevaluating our plan, based on guidance from the
health department, CDC and other resources regularly and will keep you updated
as additional information becomes available.
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While both parents and nannies should ensure that every applicant or job they interview for meets their basic requirements, it’s essential that regardless of how good things look on paper, the nanny and the family are a good fit. While clear expectations, a solid work agreement and defined job description all help make a match work out, long-term successful matches share four common factors.
1. Ability to Communicate. Nannies and parents must be able to effectively communicate for the relationship to succeed. The ability to engage in open and honest communication, being approachable and being receptive are key in determining how long a match will last. Nannies and parents often have to communicate about difficult topics and if there isn’t a strong communication foundation in place, those tough conversations can be impossible to have.
2. Mutual Respect. Parents and nannies don’t have to be the same, but they do have to respect each other. Nannies and parents must respect the ideas, beliefs, and behaviors of each other for the relationship to succeed. A nanny’s lack of acceptance of family culture may lead to a lack of respect. Without mutual respect, the nanny and parent relationship will fail.
3. Personality Match. If parents prefer a quiet morning routine that consists of a slow roll out of bed while hanging with the kids in their PJs, sipping their coffee while listening to classical music, chances are a nanny that comes rushing in like a storm isn’t going to kick the morning off to the right start. If a nanny works better in an environment where the parents micromanage and they prefer a nanny who takes initiative, there’s going to be a lot of frustration going around.
4. Shared Philosophies. While parents and nannies don’t need to be philosophical clones, when there is shared common ground, it makes for an easier match. Being on the same page when it comes to how to approach child rearing and discipline, how the children’s moral compass will point, and the world view the children will be raised with certainly makes working together long-term easier than if not. When the nanny and parents aren’t in moral alignment, the relationship can become strained.
At Morningside Nannies, we strive to find the right nanny for each family. By the time our clients are interviewing candidates, the focus is on if the candidate is the right match. In addition to our in-depth screening which eliminates 95+% of all applicants, Morningside Nannies partners with Knowing Nanny to deliver personality assessments that help our staff and our clients better understand each applicant’s personality profile, which leads them to the right match.
In a world where we often view our worth to our employers in terms of our paycheck, our raises and our bonuses, it should be no surprise that for some nannies, this holiday season could make them feel really valued or really undervalued.
For nannies, we often anticipate what our holiday gift or bonus will be. Most nannies know that it is “industry standard” to give one to two week’s pay as a holiday bonus and more the longer the nanny has been with a family. This information in hand, nannies eagerly wait for their last paycheck of the year desperately hoping it’s filled with the extra money that they have been hoping for. We also tend to expect a holiday gift – something special crafted by the children or an item picked out from a store we would never be able to shop at on our own.
While you may expect neither a gift nor bonus, in my 15 plus years of being in the nanny world, I’ve found that most nannies, me included, have shared these holiday expectations at one time or another.
So how do you handle it when your bonus or gift doesn’t live up to your expectations?
1. Consider how you are valued year round.
Is it really fair to base how much your employer values you by looking only at your bonus or gift? If your family constantly tells you that they appreciate you, reminds you of how much you enrich their family life and thanks you for providing the best care for their children, those things needs to be remembered as well.
2. It is the thought that counts.
Families celebrate the holidays differently. Some families aren’t big on giving holiday gifts or more accurately giving money for holiday gifts. Others don’t receive a holiday bonus from their employers, so don’t see the need of giving one to their employee. Keep in mind that holiday bonuses and gifts aren’t automatic or merit rated (unless your contract states otherwise) so any gesture should be appreciated.
3. Try not to judge.
It can be so tempting to think that your employer could have done more, but don’t. How much your employer makes or has in her bank is irrelevant. You can’t view your bonus or pay based on what you think your employer can afford. That’s not how it works. Your pay should be based on your skills, experience, education, market demand, etc., and your holiday bonus or gift is based on what your employer wants to give you.
4. Reevaluate your expectations.
If you were working for most any other type of employer, would it be fair to expect a new pair of Uggs then to be disappointed when they weren’t under the tree? Just because you want a gift or had one in mind, is it fair to be disappointed you didn’t receive it? Are your expectations based on what your nanny friends are getting rather than on your employer’s gift giving traditions? Is it fair to expect anything over and above your weekly paycheck?
The nanny and employer relationship is a funny. We are part of the family, but we are not. The holidays magnify this unique aspect of our relationship. Just as we often think our employer treating us like family when it benefits them, we must also ask ourselves if we are expecting our employers to treat us like family when it benefits us?
If you’ve worked for a family for years and your gift or bonus is less extravagant than in years past, it can be hard to swallow. If you don’t receive anything, it can be even harder. While we like to think we know everything that is going on behind the scenes in the family (and we often do!) sometimes quite honestly, we don’t.
I’ve worked for families where I’ve received everything from a tube of facial cleanser to a huge pair of diamond earrings. Funny enough, the family I would have expected to get the diamond earrings from got me the facial cleanser. Was I disappointed? Yes. Did I feel jaded? Yes. Hurt? Yes. Was my disappointment fair? Not really.
Just like we teach our charges, “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.” When it comes to holiday gift giving, this has to be our attitude. If it’s not, we risk resenting our employers, which if not resolved, can negatively affect the working relationship.
And while it can be tempting to compare bonuses and gifts with your nanny friends, don’t. One nanny may be completely thrilled with her holiday gift, until she learns that another nanny in the neighborhood got much more. That nanny could be you!
So, before you exchange gifts or open your last paycheck of December, take a deep breath, consider your value to the family and remind yourself it is the thought that counts.
If you truly feel like the gift your received (or didn’t) is a true reflection of how you are valued, it’s up to you whether or not you choose to broach the subject with your employer. Should you choose to address it, think very carefully about what you will say and how you will say it.
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Nannies have many options when it comes to finding their next nanny job. From word of mouth referrals to online recruiting platforms to social media shares, the options seem endless for connecting with the right nanny. However, all options aren’t created equally. For nannies who want to take the guess work out of the application process and only apply for legally paying nanny jobs in their area that truly exist, using a reputable nanny referral agency like Morningside Nannies makes sense.
At Morningside Nannies:
We learn about you, your experiences and your caregiving style.
We present you to families seeking a caregiver with your background, experience and temperament.
We help prepare you for interviewing successfully.
We facilitate interviews with families who would like to meet you.
We educate parents on realistic responsibilities and competitive and compliant wages.
We educate families on the importance of having a written work agreement.
We provide parents information and resources to help them succeed as a household employer.
We provide nannies with professional nanny training opportunities at no cost.
We offer our services at no financial cost to nannies.
Morningside Nannies is pleased to present our current job opportunities. If any of these nanny positions interest you, please apply online now or contact a placement specialist today by calling (713) 526-3989.
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Love your job? Don’t fall victim to these 4 things that could result in you losing it, quicker than you thought.
1. Show up consistently late
Working parents schedule their nanny’s hours around their work schedule. If nanny is late, that means they are late; and for some employers this can be a real problem. While showing up a few minutes late may not seem like a big deal, when it’s a regular occurrence, those minutes add up. Nannies should arrive with enough time to settle in and be ready to start work at their scheduled start time. Planning to arrive at the time you are scheduled to start work will always keep you running a little late and for some families, a little late is too much. Always build a buffer into your commute to ensure you arrive on time and in the rare instance when something does prevent you from doing so, let your boss know as soon as possible.
2. Use your phone excessively (or at all)
Each family will have their own expectations regarding device usage and what is or is not acceptable. Some families are fine if their nanny uses their devices while the children are sleeping, while others prefer them not to use them at all. Including a written device usage policy in the nanny/family agreement can ensure that everyone is on the same page with expectations. As a general rule of thumb, when nanny is responsible for the children her focus should be on the children. Pro tip: Develop your own personal policy on device use during working hours and share it with your employers. Most will be impressed you are considering the value of your time and the importance of spending it with the kids.
3. Fall asleep on the job
Kids are sleeping, time for a nap right? Wrong. While in some rare instances sleeping on the job may be appropriate, such as when the parents are traveling and the nanny is spending the night, the general practice of nannies sleeping when the kids do, isn’t an acceptable one. Parents who have caught their caregiver napping have been quick to terminate employment, especially when the expectation is that the nanny is alert and ready to render aid if needed.
4. Gossip about your bosses
Sharing your frustration that your boss just bought the newest high tech gadget but hasn’t offered you a raise is okay, right? Especially when among friends. Negative employer talk has a way of finding its way back to employers, either through a nanny telling another nanny who tells her boss who happens to be friends with the employer who is being spoken poorly of or through someone overhearing the conversation and reporting back to the boss. And while venting in “private” online nanny groups may seem safe, never underestimate the damage a shared screen shot can do.
Michelle LaRowe is the executive director of Morningside Nannies, Houston’s award-winning nanny agency, 2004 International Nanny Association Nanny of the Year and the lead educator at NannyTraining.com.
Working parents schedule their nanny’s hours around their work schedule. If nanny is late, that means they are late; and for some employers this can be a real problem. While showing up a few minutes late may not seem like a big deal, when it’s a regular occurrence, those minutes add up. Nannies should arrive with enough time to settle in and be ready to start work at their scheduled start time. Planning to arrive at the time you are scheduled to start work will always keep you running a little late and for some families, a little late is too much. Always build a buffer into your commute to ensure you arrive on time and in the rare instance when something does prevent you from doing so, let your boss know as soon as possible.
