She works at least 12 hours a day, seven days a week – but then has a week off.
asserted
She → work → week
She might earn $US200,000 ($281,000) a year, which at an hourly rate is on a par with a private-equity associate.
uncertain
which → earn → associate
It is increasingly so in another exacting field: caring for the children of the super-rich.
asserted
It → care → rich
A decade or so ago, such highly paid gigs were rare.
asserted
gigs → pay → ?
“We used to get a lot of: ‘Oh, I’m not paying that’,” says Anita Rogers, the founder of British American Household Staffing (BAHS), an agency that finds nannies (as well as governesses, butlers and chefs) for wealthy households.
asserted
that → use → households
“Now it is quite the opposite,” she says.
asserted
she → say → ?
Clients demand nannies who have not only trained at the best academies but also speak several languages, have degrees from elite universities and are willing to travel constantly and put in very long days.
asserted
who → demand → days
And they are willing to pay.
asserted
they → pay → ?
This has led to a boom in the top-of-the-market nannying, which is something of a cottage industry.
asserted
which → lead → industry
Although some institutions are of long standing – the Norland University of Early Childhood, a posh British training school, has been around for more than a century – many of the agencies to which upper-crust parents are turning are much younger.
asserted
parents → turn → which
Rogers set up BAHS in 2012; among her competitors are Adventure Nannies (established in 2007) and Morgan & Mallet (2015).
asserted
Nannies → set → 2007
Rogers says she now has 7000 clients.
asserted
she → say → clients
“They want nannies that have experience on yachts and jets.
asserted
that → want → yachts
It’s just a given.”British
asserted
It → ’ → ?
The basics of nannying for the children of the very rich are the same as for those of the merely affluent: bottle-feeding, preparing meals, trips to the playground.
asserted
basics → nannye → playground
But the surroundings and expectations can make the job almost unrecognisable.
asserted
job → make → ?
Travelling with the family is different too.
asserted
Travelling → travel → family
“They want nannies that have experience on yachts and jets,” Rogers says.
asserted
Rogers → want → yachts
“It’s just a given.”
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Not everyone is cut out to thrive in an environment that can be “like Succession”, she adds.
asserted
she → cut → Succession
“This extreme wealth can be a lot for somebody that’s never been exposed to it.”
asserted
that → expose → it
One nanny recalls that an ultra-rich family she once worked for required her to iron their son’s underwear every day.
asserted
she → recall → underwear
Another parent was furious that she did not immediately fetch a ladder to replace a light bulb in the playroom ceiling, which was five metres high, while caring for their small children.
asserted
which → fetch → children
The structure of the job has also changed, with the rise of the rota-nanny.
asserted
structure → change → nanny
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Rogers’ richer clients – who could afford as many hours of child care as they could possibly want – would often cobble arrangements together, hiring one nanny for Monday to Friday and another for the weekend, and then hire a babysitter for a night out.
uncertain
they → afford → out
If parents had to work late, they would hope their weekday nanny could cover the extra hours at the last minute.
uncertain
nanny → have → minute
Now two nannies, one on and the other off, can cover every daytime hour, every day of the year, if at a price of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
asserted
nannies → cover → dollars
This is plainly more convenient for those who can afford it.
asserted
who → afford → it
With separate nannies for weekdays and weekends, if they wanted one to travel with them, she might need to make arrangements for her own family, and be paid for longer hours and perhaps a travel fee too.
uncertain
she → want → hours
Alternatively, they might hire a different nanny for the trip, whom their children would not know.
uncertain
children → hire → whom
It can suit many nannies too, says Rogers.
asserted
Rogers → suit → nannies
They get a full seven days off to do their own thing.
asserted
They → get → thing
When clients request weekday nannies, she now has fewer of them to offer.
asserted
she → request → them
But the new system can come at a cost.
asserted
system → come → cost
“Before I really dove into childcare, if you would have asked me my entire life from the start of four years old, what do you want to be when you grow up?
asserted
you → dive → years
I would have said a stay-at-home mum,” says Lauren Lomascolo, who has nannied for wealthy clients for a decade.
asserted
who → say → decade
Now she worries about ever finding help to cover the demands of her job.
asserted
she → worry → job
“If I stay in this forever, I can’t have kids.
asserted
I → stay → kids
If I get out of this, where is my income?”
asserted
income → get → this
To some, nannying for the super-rich is enjoyably glamorous.
asserted
nannying → nannye → rich
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
