{"id":804,"date":"2022-09-09T18:59:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T18:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/?p=804"},"modified":"2022-09-09T18:59:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T18:29:00","slug":"the-2-week-itch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/the-2-week-itch\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2 week itch"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When you start a job everything seems great. Your charges are great. Your bosses are great. The area is great. The new routine is great.<\/p>\n

Then reality hits, and at the end of the second week you wonder whether you really made the right choice after all. Are these hours as convenient as they seem? Is their behaviour getting worse? Are your bosses really pleased with what you\u2019ve been doing? Maybe they\u2019re re-evaluating their decision, just like you\u2019re re-evaluating yours? Maybe this job is doomed? Is it worth the money to be unhappy? Are you even really unhappy?<\/p>\n

Recognise this feeling for what it is and you\u2019ll feel better. It\u2019s a natural instinct to take stock once the initial excitement of a new job has worn off, especially if your previous job was a good fit and you felt very comfortable. Building up trust with a new family is a relatively slow process and things won\u2019t feel the same for a while. It\u2019s a good idea to persevere until the end of the probationary period so you know you\u2019ve given it a good shot, and things will probably improve past the 2 week point anyway.<\/p>\n

Addressing any niggles you have at this stage is vital to prevent potentially difficult situations from escalating. Hearing positive feedback will boost your self-esteem and your employers will be reassured that you\u2019re making an effort to fit in with their needs and wants rather than powering ahead with the way you\u2019ve always done things. It also gives your bosses a safe space to raise anything they aren\u2019t happy about. Everyone makes mistakes and it\u2019s almost inevitable that you\u2019ll have done something differently to how they would do it but rather than letting it build up you should clear the air and find out what they want you to do in future, or explain why you\u2019ve chosen to do something differently.<\/p>\n

Isolation can be a big factor if you\u2019ve just moved to a new area or your nanny friends have charges of a different age. Be proactive about going out and finding new friends or tapping into contacts your bosses have already made, and don\u2019t lose touch with your old friends. Nannies need peer support just as much as anyone else and your previous nanny network can help you through a tough time even if you don\u2019t see them as often as you used to. If you\u2019re new to nannying then try to buddy up with an experienced nanny to mentor you through the transition.<\/p>\n

Give yourself positive things to look forward to over the next week at work and out of work too – introduce your charges to your favourite activities or plan a fun outing and treat yourself to something midweek as a little pick-me-up. The more positive memories and feelings you have about a new job, the more relaxed and confident you\u2019ll feel, and everyone will pick up on it.<\/p>\n

If nothing seems to be working give yourself a timeframe where you\u2019ll give it your best, and if you don\u2019t feel any different make the decision to move on. There\u2019s no shame in accepting that you and the family aren\u2019t a good match and you\u2019ll soon find a job that\u2019s perfect for you<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you start a job everything seems great. Your charges are great. Your bosses are great. The area is great. The new routine is great.<\/p>\n

Then reality hits, and at the end of the second week you wonder whether you really made the right choice after all. Are these hours as convenient as they seem? Is their behaviour getting worse? Are your bosses really pleased with what you\u2019ve been doing? Maybe they\u2019re re-evaluating their decision, just like you\u2019re re-evaluating yours? Maybe this job is doomed? Is it worth the money to be unhappy? Are you even really unhappy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[111,296,299,306,308,326,340],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nannies","tag-communication","tag-nannies","tag-nanny","tag-nanny-employer-relationship","tag-nanny-grinds","tag-nanny-tips","tag-new-nanny-job"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}