12 Signs You Probably Hired the Wrong Nanny

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Eyinade Eweje

For most busy mums, hiring a nanny to help with caring for their kids is a necessity. However, with the series of heartbreaking stories about nannies from hell, if you have one, there’s need to scrutinize her a lot more.

Here are typical signs to help you tell if your nanny may be part of the bad lot.

1. Your instincts always tell you she’s up to no good in your absence, she seems too eager to please or smooth and you hardly have cause to complain. She may just be a pretender, so, install a nanny cam and make sure she has no hint about it. Though it can be tough, dedicate time to viewing the footage. Who knows, with time, your suspicions may just be confirmed.

2. Her family and friends. If you ran a thorough background check before hiring her, you’d know at least a bit about her background and the company she keeps. It’s one of the best ways to judge the sort of person she is. If you know next to nothing about your nanny’s background, it’s time to find out or let her go.

3. You’ve had cause to think she keeps bad company or received a few ugly reports. Investigate to verify, and if you find out anything suspicious, don’t let the likely time lapse before you find a replacement stop you from doing the needful, and promptly too.

4. Everyone seems to think she’s no good. Well, there’s no harm in listening to them, especially if your kids complain endlessly too. Don’t feel guilty about letting her go; you’re only watching out for your children’s safety.

5. Your kids seem uncomfortable, nervous, frightened, withdrawn or unusually quiet around her. If this happens all the time, your nanny likely does cruel or even unimaginable things to them in your absence and bullies them into silence.

6. Your child always has unexplainable marks or injuries. Even if you spot these on school days, don’t assume they were inflicted by a peer at school and tag them ‘minor’. Ask your child questions and get to the bottom of it. You might just discover your seemingly efficient nanny has been physically abusing your child.

7. None of your kids get along with her. Usually, it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks for your kids to get acquainted with a live-in nanny. If no bond whatsoever is formed even after a whole month, don’t think your kids are just being choosy or difficult. It may be a sign you hired the wrong nanny, besides, there’s really no point letting someone they obviously don’t like be their caregiver.

8. She contradicts your standards. Don’t keep a crude nanny who perhaps will never change, no matter how well she does her job. Young children are quite impressionable and she may ultimately rub off all her bad habits, foul language and mannerisms on your children. That’s definitely not a risk you should take.

9. Disregards your instructions or rules often, claiming not to have understood clearly or just prefers doing things her own way.

10. She snoops and eavesdrops. A nanny has no business looking through your personal stuff or hiding in some corner or by the door to listen to your conversation on the phone, with your husband, family, friends or guests. One who does these may be up to no good.

11. She always seems to have a story or excuse to cover up her mistakes, even when there are always a lot of loose ends. She may be covering up even worse things you may never spot.

12. She is careless. You should hire a nanny who shows your children lots of affection and pays attention to their safety. Children play hard, accidents are therefore inevitable but should be occasional as most can be prevented if they are watched closely enough. If your child always has bruises from a fall or other avoidable accidents in the house, it’s a red alert. She probably has obsessions, like her phone, which keeps her from paying enough attention.