Two-income families have become the norm over the last several years, which has led to an increasing need for quality child-care. Parents who have taken on the responsibilities associated with additional employment must also shoulder another burden, and that is to ensure that they make a good choice when hiring a nanny. Since their nanny may be spending more time with their kids than they do themselves, parents need to be reassured that the nanny has the skills for the job. There are a number of reasons to hire a nanny with experience, and some of these appear below.

1. Good Judgment  – A sage once said that good judgment comes from a lot of experience. Of course, the same fellow said that a lot of experience comes from a lot of bad judgment. An experienced nanny may have less “bad judgment” left in her than a novice.
2. Been There, Done That – Nannies in-the-know have seen all kinds of behavior and been through all kinds of trauma with their charges, from stitches at the clinic to a child wailing for too-easy-to-reach candy at the grocery store. They know how to handle these scenes because they’ve done it before.
3. References – A newbie nanny may have sterling personal references, but she won’t be able to compete with the combination of personal and “professional” references that an experienced nanny can supply.
4. Sense of Responsibility – A sense of responsibility is a cumulative product, and one that may be more fully developed in a nanny who has been around the block a few times.
5. Even Keel – Calm, cool and collected is what parents expect of their care-giver, and a first-time nanny is more likely to be excitable and flighty than a veteran in the field.
6. Cumulative Knowledge – Nannies who have been on the job awhile know how to do things. They know the best time to take kids on an outing. They know schedules, prices, amenities and bargains that an inexperienced person can’t possibly know.
7. Multiple Children – Sometimes it takes experience for a nanny to deal with more than one child at-a-time. They know how to lasso the wild ones, while keeping the introverts engaged as well.
8. Social Consciousness – Social consciousness, like a sense of responsibility, is a learned capacity, and experienced nannies are more likely to have accumulated beneficial world-views than their less experienced associates.
9. Less Distracted – The more experience a nanny has, the less likely she is to be distracted from her work by cute lifeguards, store sales or Facebook, things that can grab the attention of someone who isn’t as focused.
10. Worth Extra Pay – Higher salaries are commanded by nannies with greater experience, but along with that comes the added assurances that parents desire, when they make the difficult decision to have a stranger care for their children.

The adage “experience is the best teacher” didn’t get to be an adage without having some merit, and this is something for parents to keep in mind when they consider hiring a nanny.

While you’ve made the decision to get assistance with your children from a domestic employee, a nanny, there are a few key advantages to opting for a part-time role as opposed to a full time nanny.

1. Selective duties: You’re able to delegate to the nanny, the duties which you find cumbersome or undesirable to do yourself. Whether that duty is early morning care or midnight infant feedings, the choice becomes yours as what you’d prefer to tend to.
2. Savings: The cost savings can be a motivator. Full-time nanny services can be expensive, so hiring a part-time provider can take the extreme edge off of your domestic or child care demands while enabling you to enjoy the benefits of your employment endeavors.
3. Parenting time:You’re able to be more of an influence in the growth of your children.
4. Time with your spouse: You’re able to spend more quality time with your spouse as this part-time assistant has removed some of your daily chores and obligations.
5. Privacy: You’re able to enjoy your home and family without having an employee share the same space at the same time–all the time. Privacy is important wind-down time for any family to enjoy.
6. Flexibility: As life hands you surprises, you can divert some of the novel obligations toward the nanny in the form of duty exchanges for the day. This flexibility keeps you in charge of the domestic pulse.
7. Night nanny: Get some sleep! It’s no secret that new mothers suffer from sleep deprivation as the newborn has demands that don’t necessarily keep with the routines of the parents. As a working mother, your family depends on your paycheck; and a part-time night nanny can facilitate your need to stay fresh and rested.
8. Efficiency: You delegate the time of need, in your household, and are seeking to satisfy a particular time- frame and the needs and requirements associated with that time-frame. You hire specifically for your needs and not, necessarily, for down-time or sleep time that you’d incur with a full-time nanny.
9. Shadow mother: Although a part-time nanny may become a significant support figure to your children, she will not over-shadow the presence of their own mother.
10. Separation anxiety: You children will more readily accept the presence of a part-time nanny knowing that, at some point during their day, you will be accessible to them.

While the mere cost of full-time versus part-time nanny services may not be an objectionable variable to you, the value of creating more quality time to enjoy, exclusively, your children and home as a family is great. Part-time nanny services afford you the best of both worlds: Deferring from undesirable domestic duties while enjoying the wonder and beauty of your children in your own home.