‘Professionalism, structure important when employing a nanny’

Amara Agbim, founder of  The Nanny Academy, which offers education in caregiving, says professionalism is a key attribute to consider when employing nannies.

The CEO, who spoke at the institute’s tenth-anniversary celebration, which held on Tuesday in Lagos, said most trained nannies understand the value of contracts and the need to respect them.

She highlighted the challenges facing this essential social service industry in Nigeria, noting that it’s wrong for employers to think that individuals become nannies due to a lack of gainful employment.

“They understand that forming secure attachment is a critical part of child development and work in partnership with parents to help children thrive,” Agbi said during the event.

“To achieve this level of professionalism, deep training which penetrates to achieve a mindset shift is preferred over sandwich training packages.

“Children aren’t always easy to handle so we should do away with thinking that it is an unfortunate truth that most nannies work in childcare because they couldn’t find a ‘real’ job.

“It is not true that they take to the role because they’re looking for something simple and don’t strive for anything more out of laziness.”

Chichi Okiche, a recruitment manager with Robert Half, a consultancy firm, who also spoke at the event, said the ideal candidate to hire is one with a right combination of education and experience.

According to Okiche, education equips a potential nanny with social skills and interpersonal skills to but hiring untrained hands and forcing them to meet the job expectation is just malpractice.

“A trained Nanny understands that parents are the primary caregivers of their children and are available just to help assist parents to provide a nurturing environment for children,” the recruitment manager added.

“With a trained Nanny, you don’t have to worry or assume that they will take the place of parents.

“As long as parents create the time to bond with their children despite being away at work or even being a stay at home Mum, children will know who their parents are and love them for it.”