Professional child caregivers who bring their own children to work with them—many of whom refer to themselves as “nanny moms” or “nanny parents”—often find that doing so is a fulfilling and efficient way to combine work and family life. The arrangement allows them to continue doing work they love while remaining their own child’s primary caregiver.
The benefits of bringing your child to work can extend to the family you work for, too, and understanding what they are can help you make the case if your employer needs a little convincing. There’s no one right way to approach the arrangement—you could host at your home or go to theirs; you might bring your child all the time or just sometimes. Whatever the arrangement, the nanny parents we spoke with say it can be well worth it. Below are 5 benefits of bringing your own child to a nanny or babysitting job:
1. Build a flexible career you enjoy
For those who love being professional nannies or sitters, perhaps the best perk of bringing your child to your job is that you don’t have to choose between your career and spending time with your own kid.
As a nanny parent, if you try pivoting away from being a nanny, there’s every chance that you may not feel as fulfilled. Being able to stay in the industry and continue raising your child is a great thing to aim for, since you can keep doing what you love and show other nannies that it’s possible to juggle both.
Being a nanny parent also gives you the best of both worlds: You’re able to continue being involved in the nanny industry that you love so much, impacting children and their parents in a positive and helpful way, while still being with your own child full time.
2. Earn an income while saving on childcare costs
Bringing your child to your nanny or babysitting job comes with one huge perk that no other job has: the ability to earn an income while saving money on childcare. Given the staggering cost of childcare in Canada, saving any amount on care could free up resources for other areas of your life.
That said, bringing your child to work shouldn’t keep you, as a caregiver, from charging a competitive rate. Just because you’re a parent doesn’t change the fact that you’re a nanny with the training and experience to support why you charge what you do.
Also, keep in mind that it need not be an all-or-nothing situation if you’d rather only watch your child for some of the time you’re working. You might initially start bringing your child to work all the time, but end up scaling that back to only bringing them 2 or 3 days out of 4.
3. Share meaningful experiences with your child
You might find that you love being able to take your child and client’s child on fun adventures together. As a bonus, your child might love joining you at work, too.
Let’s say you plan a big outing: Your child can come along, which makes it even more special. Or if you plan an elegant tea party with finger sandwiches and such, your child gets to be there, dress up, and join in on the fun.
Managing multiple children is one of those things you have to learn and practise, but over time, with a lot of trial and error, you improve. Our advice for having a great time is just to make sure you plan sufficiently. You don’t want to start the day playing catch-up, so it’s a good idea to plan and organize everything—including lunches—the night before.
4. Build in more socialization for both children
Raising your child with the other children in your care adds the benefits of socialization, developmental support, and encouragement.
It’s also worth noting that if parents want their child to have more socialization but feel hesitant to enrol them in a day nursery, either being a nanny parent or hiring one can be a good compromise.
If the kids are close in age, then you’ve got the perfect playmate for your child. And if one child is older, they might even be able to help you out a bit.
It’s great to hire a nanny who watches their own child along with yours and to see the photos of the toddlers playing together. The nanny can give you updates about how they’re practising collaborative skills like sharing and passing toys back and forth.
As an added bonus for caregivers, children often do a great job of entertaining each other, which can make it easier to keep them both occupied and content while you handle another task like prepping food or cleaning up a mess.
5. Relate to your employer in a different way
You might find that you can relate to your employer on a closer level because you’ve gone through very similar experiences as a parent. A nanny’s experience as a parent makes them intimately aware of the needs of young children, and parent employers appreciate the feeling that they are in the same place in life. This means that they understand how hectic our schedules can be, are kind and understanding if we’re running a few minutes late or have forgotten the diapers, and may even offer general parenting advice.
A nanny parent is someone who is going to understand when their employer has had a sleepless night, and gets that things sometimes change at short notice.
Questions to ask when considering a nanny-parent arrangement
Even with all the benefits, being a nanny parent requires an extra level of energy, planning, and awareness of everyone’s boundaries, including your own. Aside from the standard list of questions you’d want to ask any new family, you’ll want to discuss topics that affect both of your families and children, such as:
- Do you and your employer have similar parenting styles? If there are major differences, can everyone feasibly work together?
- Will the car you’re using fit all the children you’re caring for?
- Who will host? Or will you make a weekly schedule using both homes for childcare? If you care for the children in your own home, you may qualify as in-home daycare, but note that this comes with different requirements. Check your city and province’s requirements to make sure you understand what you need to do.
- Who will provide the food, diapers, and other essentials?
- Are the children on the same or different schedules (naps, meals, activities), and how will that be handled?
- How do both parents feel about outings to public places?
- What are both families’ vaccination status and level of concern about minimizing risks of COVID and other illnesses? What will be the agreed-upon protocol if one child is showing signs of sickness?
It’s a good idea to put all agreed-upon details into a nanny contract and continue to revisit these topics periodically throughout the working relationship to make sure everyone is on the same page.
