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How do you fancy earning at least £100,000 a year, plus accommodation in some of the smartest postcodes in the country; endless luxury travel (usually by private jet or, at the very least, First Class); and back-to-back holidays around the world as a nanny to the super rich?
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you → publish → rich
Because, if you’re personable, well-presented and well-qualified, this could be right up your street.
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this → ’re → street
Though, ideally, you’d also speak a couple of languages – maybe French, Spanish and Mandarin.
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you → speak → languages
And it would help if you could play a musical instrument or two, to at least Grade Eight standard.
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you → help → standard
And, of course, you must love children – particularly those who are very rich and sometimes rather spoilt.
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who → love → children
But perhaps most of all, you will need to have saint-like levels of patience to deal with their often incredibly demanding parents.
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you → need → parents
These are the very brave women (and they are almost all women) who look after the children of oligarchs, royals, footballers, super models, politicians and hedge fund managers.
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who → look → oligarchs
Hulu’s new Million Dollar Nannies reality TV series, set in Ibiza, features six women and two men seeking jobs with rich families
The lifestyle is not for the weak, with long hours, specific demands and unruly behaviour making it difficult
Who sign non-disclosure agreements and undergo anti-kidnap training and walk around the zoo with bodyguards in tow.
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Who → set → tow
Who can pack 11 Louis Vuitton suitcases for a weekend in Mustique with an hour’s notice.
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Who → pack → notice
And who are paid anything from £80,000 to £250,000 a year, plus many tempting extras, for their hard work and discretion.
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who → pay → work
And, while most of us are struggling with fuel bills and worrying about our mortgage deals, they are in hot demand.
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they → struggle → demand
In fact, recent figures released by NannyTax show that the number of nannies earning more than £80,000 has grown by more than 30 per cent in the last year.
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number → release → year
But many earn far, far more than that because the really rich will pay pretty much whatever it takes to secure the best nanny available for their precious little darlings.
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it → earn → darlings
So, while traditional institutions like the Norland Institute of Early Childhood have been around for ever, a clutch of newer, younger, agencies
have sprung up, including Fox & Cubs, Adventure Nannies and British American Household Staffing, to meet the demand.
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clutch → spring → demand
And recently, they’ve been glamorised on reality TV with Hulu’s new Million Dollar Nannies series, set in Ibiza, where six women and two men seek jobs with rich families.
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women → glamorise → families
This week, I spoke to a few of this highly specialised breed.
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I → speak → breed
They are talking to the Daily Mail anonymously due to the NDAs they have signed and cannot name their often very famous employers, or all hell will break loose.
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hell → talk → employers
The Norland Institute of Early Childhood has been training nannies since the late nineteenth century
The late Queen Elizabeth with a young Prince George and his nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, as Prince William encourages his son
Because while the basics of nannying remain the same – bottle feeding, potty training, sleep training, trips to the park and, the magical moments of reward when a baby first smiles, or has a dry nappy, or says thank you – everything else about this job is extraordinary.
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everything → train → job
Louenna Hood trained at Norland and worked for years as a top end nanny living between Claridge’s and superyachts and now runs her own agency, Louenna’s Nannies.
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Hood → train → agency
She told the Daily Mail that travelling with your family – even between their luxury villas or boats – is incredibly hard work and involves much longer hours than a regular nanny works running just one household.
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nanny → tell → household
This is because a big part of the job is managing the children as they constantly switch between homes, time zones and climates.
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they → manage → homes
When Sarah, 26, who has been nannying since she left a top UK university a few years ago, was travelling to the Middle East with one family she was ordered to wake their young son up at 3am and keep him occupied in the early hours of the morning, so he didn’t get jet lag.
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he → nannye → lag
‘They were in First Class, we were in Economy and he was three years old, so of course he just screamed and screamed,’ she says.
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she → scream → course
On top of that, with high-net-worth families there is often no set routine and travel between international homes can be last minute, so the nannies need to be flexible – not just to leave at the drop of a hat, but to fit into a wider household team.
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nannies → be → team
Often the family’s second (or third, or fourth) home will be fully prepped with staff – drivers, security, butler, housekeepers, sometimes even other nannies – to work around.
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home → preppe → staff
Another big part of the job, they tell me, is teaching the parents how to parent.
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they → tell → me
‘A lot of them don’t have a clue.
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lot → have → clue
I worked for a Russian couple who seemed scared of their baby,’ one nanny tells me.
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nanny → work → me
And at the baby stage, some clients keep quite a distance from their newborn – just popping their head round the nursery door every so often.
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clients → keep → door
‘The children are lovely and we adore them,’ the nanny explains.
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nanny → adore → them
‘But they need boundaries and rules, and they are much happier for having them and respond very quickly.
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they → need → them
That said, many of the parents have no concept of discipline or routine, refuse to tell their children off and often undermine the nanny’s rules with treats and lavish gifts.
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many → say → treats
‘One father gave me a credit card with his son’s name on it and told me I wasn’t allowed to say no to him,’ says one.
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one → give → him
‘Whatever he asked for, I could buy.
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I → ask → Whatever
I didn’t, because that would have been crazy.
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that → do → ?
He was only four, so he mostly asked for sweets.’
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he → ask → sweets
One nanny tells of five-year-olds regularly taken to Paris on the Eurostar for haircuts with world famous hairdressers.
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nanny → tell → hairdressers
Another was instructed to regularly slather a toddler in beef tallow to moisturise their skin.
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Another → instruct → skin
And all reason can fly out of the window when it comes to their birthday parties.
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it → fly → parties
‘We’d order £1,000 cakes from Jane Asher (a former Chelsea cake shop), one for home and one for the party.
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We → order → party
…and 53 more, not listed.
The Aporia
