May 2022 – Page 2 – Nannyjob blog

Tutoring: extra cash for nannies

Being a nanny is a rewarding career. You have the opportunity to pour into the lives of children on a daily basis; this is something that not everyone has the chance to do. But with this job comes challenges. One of these challenges might be that you aren’t making enough money. Sometimes, a nanny’s wages simply aren’t enough to make ends meet so you’re left finding ways to make extra money. This is tough, because after working full time with energetic children all week, you’re probably exhausted and not thrilled on taking on extra work.

However, finding ways to earn more cash doesn’t need to be daunting. Have you considered tutoring as a way to help supplement your income? Giving extra time in this way can help enhance your income without compromising your main job as a nanny. You usually don’t need to have huge, impressive lists of degrees from big-name colleges. You just need to have proven experience and qualifications to show that you’re able to effectively tutor and teach lessons to inquiring young minds. For example, when setting up a profile that showcases your areas of expertise on tutoring websites, you’re able to specify where you can teach, when you can teach, and what subjects you’re best suited for. Clients search for quality tutors and when they decide you’re the one they want, you can name your hourly price and start working a few hours more a week. You decide what extra jobs you take on or turn down: you can call the shots.

Worried about juggling two jobs? There are ways to effectively balance a tutoring job and your main nanny position.

Give your best.

Working two different jobs might make it easy to give less to one job. This is never a good idea, though. Showing your dedication to the children you nanny, as well as the individual student you are tutoring is the key to keeping both families happy. Give 100% in both jobs – that way you’ll have a better chance of receiving positive recommendations and word of mouth referrals to other potential tutees or families looking for nanny services.

Don’t take on too much.

Working too much can be exhausting. Taking on more work may be great in helping you pay off debt or to add more to your savings account, but doing too much can drain you quickly. If you’re fatigued and worn out all the time, you’ll be more apt to make mistakes in your tutoring or be irritable with the children you’re caring for. Always remember: when taking on extra work, be sure that it’s not going to compromise your first and main source of income.

Consider overlapping responsibilities.

Tell the parents of the children you nanny that you are considering taking on extra tutoring work. Perhaps they would consider having you tutor their children for an increased pay rate. You may be able to negotiate a higher salary that way. Or, ask your nanny family if it’s ok for you to bring your laptop with you to work so you can build tutoring lessons during nap times or other down times. Overlapping responsibilities like this can take some of the stress out of working more hours in the week.

Most of all, don’t forget that as a nanny and a tutor, you are helping develop children to be confident and capable adults. Being a good example and demonstrating solid work ethic should always be a high priority.

Make your nanny profile shine

At Nannyjob we know the essential information parents need to make a decision – location, experience, availability and what kind of job you want – so make sure these details on your nanny profile are accurate. If they aren’t, then you won’t show up when parents search! Here are some other top tips for making your profile stand out from the crowd.

The first question to ask yourself: what do parents want to know about you?

Be specific because when you’re too vague about location or availability then parents won’t bother to contact you if they don’t see what they’re looking for, or something similar, on your profile – you can select multiple regions but you probably don’t want to select all of them, particularly if you’re looking for a live out job!

Make sure the details on your profile make sense – your total years of experience should be equal to the number of years as a nanny, as a nursery nurse and in other childcare (which includes teacher or nursing). If you say you have more than 5 years experience but none as a nanny or as a nursery nurse or in childcare then how can you have more than 5 years relevant experience?

Select your job types carefully. You may be genuinely happy to work as anything but remember people will contact you based on what you say you want to do.

Add a photo! It makes it easier for parents to connect what you write to a real person if they have an idea of what you look like.

Use appropriate paragraphs and punctuation to make your description easy to read.

If you have any restrictions (for example you’re looking for a Monday and Tuesday job because you already have a job the other days state this early on.

If you’re looking to work in an area where you don’t currently live, say when you would be available to move and start work.

Give details of your qualifications and experience, as well as talking about the personal qualities which make you a great candidate. Remember that this section is all about what you can do for the family, how you interact with children, what you like to do in your job and how you use the knowledge and skills that you’ve gained. Make sure you really tailor it for a nanny job. Your interests, hobbies and family background are less important than skills which are relevant to childcare and show real passion and enthusiasm for your work.

Above all, be yourself!

When parents won’t listen (or change)

As a childcarer you may sometimes find yourself in the situation where you have repeatedly tried to communicate with the parents about an issue and been ignored, or told that the parents will do something only to find they haven’t. At this point you need to make a decision about how important the issue is, to the children and to you, and whether you can work with things are they are.

Any concerns about the children’s safety or well-being must be reported. If you feel a parent’s actions or inaction mount up to abuse or neglect then you have a duty to get in touch with your relevant local authority.

Where it’s not a safeguarding issue, but makes carrying out your job difficult for you then you need to decide what actions you can take without the overt support of the parents, assuming they are happy for you to do so. Children can be quick to notice inconsistencies so acknowledge any differences between what you say and what the parents say, however they are also capable of learning which behaviours are acceptable with which adult and as long as you are consistent with them they will learn (even if it takes a little longer!).

All this, though, can make your job extremely stressful. Finding ways to wind down at the end of the day, or even quietly blow off steam half way through, are vital for your well-being. Feeling alone and unsupported can really sap your morale so share your feelings with your loved ones or friends. Often as nannies we feel we can’t talk to anyone about what goes on in our job but it’s perfectly okay to reveal our feelings and frustrations. As a general rule talking in ‘I’ terms (I feel I…. etc) won’t give anything away and it will help you acknowledge your own emotions instead of bottling them up. Sport can be a great way to relieve frustration, and crafts that occupy your hands such as knitting or card-making can be a good way to calm down and focus on something positive and productive. Creating a time to work through your feelings and set them to rest is another good way to keep your kind clear and preventing stress in your job invading your life. Work on accepting what you can’t change and seeing the positives in the things you can.

Ultimately if you feel the parents are making it impossible for you to continue, or you are unable to destress at least at the end of a working week then it might be time for you to move on. You can change the children but you can’t change the parents, and sometimes accepting that is the hardest thing of all.