NannyCast

As offered in the previous episode, here…

A special encore airing of a nanny education event, originally recorded in 2020. This is a multipart presentation and comes with a lot of goodies for you. Read the show notes, even if you don't usually do that.

Aside from getting cash in our paychecks, we can also be compensated through something called a fringe benefit. Fringe benefits are non-cash things which we earn through our labor that aren't always subject to income taxes. They exist to bridge the gap when an employer doesn't have a lot of extra cash but wishes to give us performance bonuses or to make the job more attractive.

Submit to Caregivers Against Hyperbole (our CAH…

Announcing this year's edition of our expansion…

Submit to Caregivers Against Hyperbole (our CAH…

A few of us are tired of…

Submit to Caregivers Against Hyperbole (our CAH…

With this new inflationary economy upon us, how do we get the raise or paycheck that we deserve and/or need? In this antique episode, nannies Denny and Jenni discuss what they learned in a 2012 webinar on that very topic: Let's Talk About Money.

Fringe Benefits Webinar // https://youtu.be/G_dn1jJLbro NannyCast 12…

If you are in the United States, tax day is upon us. If you don't have your W2 in your hands, you need to have this podcast in your ears.

Good placements are so important and one of the key components of a good placement is a work environment we don't find messy. A messy work environment has an effect on employee accuracy. If you are a nanny who is exhausted from daily operation in an environment that doesn't come naturally to you, listen on.

interNational Nanny Training Day is upon us and this year there is only one, it is centralized, and it is virtual. Which means that if you can hear this podcast, you can attend it. But don't be out of pocket about it. We've got a podcast episode for getting professional development as a fringe benefit, even if it isn't in your contract.

Every year, listeners and hosts of NannyCast…

Time once again to remind ourselves of what is and is not considered standard in the nanny industry.

Every year, listeners and hosts of NannyCast…

New year, new social media habits!

NannyCast 46: Your Clutter Style // download or play episode // subscribe to NannyCast //Show Notes and Resources:Clutterbug Podcast // https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clutterbug-podcast-organize-clean-and-transform-your-home/id1098781682Clutterbug Organizing Styles Episode // https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/clutterbug-podcast/discover-your-organizing-Vhzl5DaRdLy/or https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/discover-your-organizing-style-clutterbug-faqs/id1098781682?i=1000470997599Clutterbug Quiz // https://clutterbug.me/what-clutterbug-are-you-testMateo, Ricardo & Hernandez, Jose & Jaca, Carmen & Blazsek, Szabolcs. (2013). Effects of tidy/messy work environment on human accuracy. Management Decision. 51. 1861-1877. 10.1108/MD-02-2013-0084. // https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260208727_Effects_of_tidymessy_work_environment_on_human_accuracyI hope this podcast finds you well. Today is another non-standard signal boost for a very good bit of information from the Clutterbug podcast, which we will link in the show notes over at NannyCast dot com or visible in the app you are using to listen to this podcast; this is episode number 46 for reference. It is especially useful for anyone who has ever quit or wanted to quit because they could not handle the organization, or lack thereof, in the homes in which they were working. This audio is about clutter personalities of which there are four, according to Cassandra Aarssen, the hostess of Clutterbug dot me, the media empire behind today's podcast snippet. She bills herself as a recovering super slob who turned into an organizational expert, and given that there are no degrees or licenses in this field, the fact that she's been hired by HGTV to host a show called Hot Mess House is good enough for us!NannyCast, dedicated to human resources topics, chose to provide this audio snippet because good placements are so important and one of the key components of a good placement is a work environment we don't find messy. A messy work environment has an effect on employee accuracy. Don't believe us? You shouldn't just from our say-so! So we will link to a peer reviewed scholarship paper published in the journal called Management Decision from November 2013 which provides the credibility you need for our claim. You can find the paper in the show notes over at NannyCast dot com. And, well, our employers want us to be accurate and as employees, we do too!If you are a nanny who is exhausted from daily operation in an environment that doesn't come naturally to you, listen on. Knowing your own organizational style can help you better communicate with potential employers to make sure there is a match in this domain. Or, even better, if you can spare some podcast subscription space, stop this episode and just subscribe to the Clutterbug podcast and listen to every episode. We've linked that podcast in the show notes.If you are driving or watching your charges or something else that requires your eyeballs, you're still going to learn a lot from Cass via the audio excerpt so keep listening on.If you already know what your predisposed organizational style is, we'll see you in the next episode. For the rest of us, myself included, let's learn!(transition to Clutterbug podcast excerpt 01)So now that we have been introduced to the two axes, we just have to put it together into the four combinations which are visual macro, hidden macro, visual micro, and hidden micro.(transition to Clutterbug podcast excerpt 02)(transition to Clutterbug podcast excerpt 03)(conclusion from Clutterbug podcast)(conclusion from Clutterbug podcast 02)(conclusion from Clutterbug podcast 03)

Good placements are so important and one of the key components of a good placement is a work environment we don't find messy. A messy work environment has an effect on employee accuracy. If you are a nanny who is exhausted from daily operation in an environment that doesn't come naturally to you, listen on.

NannyCast 45: Holiday Bonus Gifts // download or play episode // subscribe to NannyCast //Show Notes and Resources:Gay Wise of Wise Financial (WF001) // https://youtu.be/gJ_IRWzQ3iwSamantha F (EHow001) // https://youtu.be/241mkUR0OukHR Over Coffee (HR360) // https://youtu.be/oKyaLYMc5FoAlex S (CPA001) // https://youtu.be/-cV6o_Te6METhe Jill on Money Podcast (DGT) // https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/jill-on-money-with/what-to-do-with-bonus-fDn39_pYyBv/NannyCast 22: Employee (mis) Classification // https://nannycast.com/post/184389227001/nannycast-22-employee-mis-classification-am-iIRS Publication 525 // https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-525Facebook Post Soliciting Questions // https://www.facebook.com/NannyCast/posts/5027126464004940Transcript:(CPA001 cold open)If this sounds like you, first, happy holidays. Wait, but NannyCast episodes are evergreen. How did we know that you are listening to this around the holidays? Because of the topic of course! Today's episode is all about that holiday bonus … or is it a gift?As with so many of our financially related episodes, this one is only truly applicable to nannies working in the United States of America. If you are working in a different country, you are going to have to ask your tax professional about how your country approaches additional compensation at the holiday season and so we'll see you in the next episode.For the rest of us, let's proceed on! For that cold open you heard …(CPA001 introduction of self)Also on this episode are going to be the voices of …(WF001 introduction of self)(Ehow introduction of self)(HR360 introduction of self)(DGT introduction of self)… as well as computer-voiced questions sent in by our listeners. To find out about our open calls for questions, you will need to follow our Facebook page over at Facebook dot com slash NannyCast and make sure not just to like the page but to set it to show posts in your feed. We don't post often, less than once every two months, but when we do it is always something to pay attention to.(Question 1 by Nanny A)Unfortunately not. If you remember back to Episode 22 on Employee (mis) Classification, we learned that despite what we want to tell ourselves, the IRS usually has some pretty stringent rules about things. Well, the same applies here too. By the way, if you haven't heard Episode 22, there will be a link to that in our show notes over at NannyCast dot com or hopefully appearing in the app that you use to listen to podcasts; give it listen.According to the US Department of Labor and the IRS, whose sources are cited in the show notes, any payment made in addition to the employee's regular earnings is a bonus. (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/56c-bonuses)(HR360 clip introducing bonuses.)And further …(HR360 clip about bonuses being a gift)… employee bonuses are always taxable to employees as an employee benefit, no matter how or when they are paid. (https://www.thebalancesmb.com/giving-employee-bonuses-know-the-tax-implications-397631)(bonuses have tax implications for the giver and receiver @ HR360)(bonuses are taxed no differently than regular salary @ CPA001)(nowhere in IRS codes that say bonuses are cheaper tax or tax free @ CPA001)(uncle sam doesn't care whether your income was a bonus or a base salary @ CPA001)“If you are paid your holiday bonus in a separate check from your regular pay, your employers should be withholding a flat 22% .” (https://www.thebalancesmb.com/giving-employee-bonuses-know-the-tax-implications-397631)(Question 2 by Nanny N)Sad news Nanny N. This one is going to also be taxed even though it isn't cash.(IRS Publication 525 rules on all gifts from employers whether they are taxable or not @ EHow001)(why the IRS cares @ EHow001)Did you hear her just mention gift certificates? Yeah. That's in the IRS's Publication 525 which we will link to in the show notes of this episode.(so many things about the tax code don't make sense @ DGT)But there is hope.(nominal gifts are not taxable @ Ehow001)(de minimus fringe benefits aren't taxable @ HR360)What on earth is a “nominal” or “de minimus” gift, anyway?(explain what “nominal value” means to make EHow001 make sense // actually a clip in the sound file so roll with it @ EHow001)(if we receive $100 in money that's a taxable benefit @ WF001)So cash is taxable, a bonus, and not a gift. A gift certificate is taxable, a bonus, and not a gift. And anything that can be easily converted to cash – whatever that means – is taxable, a bonus, and not a gift. That eliminates a lot of what is usually gratitude-posted to the nanny support networks. However, we did get this very interesting question from an employer who listens to our show, and yes employers, we know you are part of the listening audience:(Question 3 by Margaret)(and I can answer that question for you @ WF001)(there are many ways to give a gift to employees @ WF001)(for meals only allowed to comp $100 of food and drink combined per employee but tax deductible as a business expense for employer (WF001) and employee doesn't have to report as taxable income)(can have six such (above listed) events per year @ WF001)So that means our employers can spend up to $100 for NNRW and $100 for our nannyversary and $100 for nanny's birthday and still have 2 other meals that are fully tax deductible to our employers and also not going to cost us anything in taxes. Sweet!(we can get a nice gift worth up to $500 per year so long as it isn't a taxable benefits type gift such as a gift certificate without having to pay taxes on it @ WF001)(can receive a “long service award” of up to $500 but only every five years @ WF001)Pardon the music overtaking the end of the aforementioned words, but that is the way the audio came.(if you are going to get a gift from your employer, food is the way to go @ EHow001)(the gift of time @ HR360)Let's talk now about those bummer posts on the nanny support networks where a nanny was looking forward to or counting on a holiday bonus, as we now know the cash payment to be, and the employers don't pay one that year. The following audio is provided for employers, but it helps us to know what their best practices are.(what parents should do if they aren't going to give a bonus @ HR360)So that tells us that we can completely ignore the advice to be grateful for any bonuses we do receive and so not mind the leaner years. We are fully entitled to our feelings of ingratitude if we aren't compensated as usual, especially if it happens without communication from our employers. To anyone saying to suck it up, send them to this NannyCast episode … number 45 for reference.(Question 4 by Nanny E)(Jill on Money Podcast gives places to spend a bonus for someone without sufficient savings. @ DGT)That previous audio came from the Jill on Money podcast which introduced themselves at the top of the show. Their podcast is entirely financial advice so if this portion didn't help you, you can always write in to them to get your own personalized advice.(our email address is @ DGT)And we are out of questions and material for this episode. If you would like to get in touch with us to have a robot read out your anonymous question, head over to NannyCast dot com and click on contact us and type in your question anonymously. If you have a question and are brave enough to use your own voice, then the Send a Soundbite is the option for you.(wash your hands @ DGT)We look forward to seeing you next time with our next episode that is more useful Nanny Human Resources material. And happy holidays. All of them. Every single holiday. May they all be happy for you.

https://href.li/?https://archive.org/download/NannyCastR001/NannyCast%2044%20Childcare%20in%20the%20Gig%20App%20Economy.mp3NannyCast 44: Childcare in the Gig App Economy// download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //Time Limited Information:The Platform Workers’ Council is currently reaching out to all nannies, babysitters, maids, and home health care workers to figure out how platforms and apps can be more fair to those using them to provide services. If you are a listener to NannyCast and identify with any of those job titles, please take the survey.Show Notes and Resources:Platform Workers’ Council Survey // https://bit.ly/3w4BEK8NannyCast Bonus Episode // https://anchor.fm/nannycast/episodes/Why-Babysitting-Isnt-Ready-for-the-Gig-App-Economy-e8hbhdSubscribe to the NannyCast Bonus Feed // https://anchor.fm/nannycast/ or https://anchor.fm/s/929706c/podcast/rssEpisode Transcript:We here at NannyCast try to perpetually have evergreen episodes, but today we have some timely information we need to share with you. The Platform Workers’ Council is currently reaching out to all nannies, babysitters, maids, and home health care workers to figure out how platforms and apps can be more fair to those using them to provide services. If you are a listener to NannyCast and identify with any of those job titles, please take the survey by visiting NannyCast dot com slash App Survey which is all one word, or by visiting the episode show notes for this episode which should be available in your podcatching application. Once again, that’s NannyCast dot com slash App Survey.If the survey has already concluded by the time you find your way to this episode, you should listen on! We have some evergreen content for you still. In November of 2019 we released our most popular short little bonus episode called “Why babysitting isn’t ready for the gig app economy,” filled with warnings about how apps are currently constructed and dangers we face as service workers. We are reproducing that episode here in its entirety because it has become timely to step out of the shadows of being a bonus episode and needs to become a full episode. Please listen on.(stinger)

https://href.li/?https://fb.watch/9rAk591wol/NannyCast 43: Your Personality Already Chose Your Parenting Style// download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //Time Limited Information:The NannyCast team do this as a volunteer labor of love for all of you wishing to level up your nannying HR skills. Our media host, Archive.org, chosen because it is a nonprofit and donation supported, is having an end of year funding drive. If you like NannyCast and want the evergreen episodes to stick around forever, please consider making a donation to Archive.org’s funding campaign. Even $1 can help keep so many digital resources available in perpetuity of which NannyCast is just one. DONATE HERE.Show Notes and Resources:Video // https://fb.watch/9rAk591wol/Mattias J Barker Podcast // https://pca.st/cg3h97w6Episode Transcript:I hope this podcast finds you well. Today is another non-standard signal boost for a very good bit of information originally delivered by video. It is especially useful for Junior Nannies, which means nannies in their first five years of nannying or their first five placements, whichever comes last, and for those who are struggling to find their parenting niche and style. This video is about how one’s personality predisposes one to a particular parenting style and comes from a practicing psychotherapist named Mattias J Barker.NannyCast, dedicated to human resources topics, choose to provide this audio snippet because good placements are so important and one of the key components of a good placement is contstancy of care which means the parenting styles of the parents are the same as the parenting style of the nanny. When I was first starting out, I applied to any job that was not too far and paid what I wanted to be paid and had ages I felt comfortable with, figuring that I could simply perform the parent’s parenting style. I learned the hard way that I could not. It took me a decade to learn my predisposed parenting style when I could simply have watched or listened to a fourteen minute video. Please accept this shortcut. Life is too short to learn every lesson the hard way.If you are a nanny who is exhausted from daily performance of a parenting style that doesn’t come naturally to you, listen on. Or, even better, if you can spare some eyeballs for a fourteen minute – yes fourteen minute! – Facebook video, stop this episode and watch the Facebook video in its entirety; the eye contact by Mattias Barker does add something to his audio. You can find the video linked from the show notes for this episode or by going to nannycast dot com slash parenting personality.If you are driving or watching your charges or something else that requires your eyeballs, you're still going to learn a lot from Mattias Barker via the audio so keep listening on.If you already know what your predisposed parenting style is, we'll see you in the next episode. For the rest of us, myself included, let's learn!(transition to video)

NannyCast 42: Growth Mindset // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //Show Notes and Resources:Video // https://youtu.be/Yl9TVbAal5sGrowth Mindset Text Explanation // https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/growth-mindsetEpisode Transcript:Today’s episode is going to be nonstandard. Today we are going to air, in its entirety, the audio from a YouTube video on growth mindset. The term “growth mindset” is primarily attributed to psychologist Carol Dweck, but we all know that nothing in academia happens in isolation so I’m sure there are other unsung heroes out there connected with the idea. Growth mindset is the belief that a person’s capacities and talents can be improved over time.Now why would NannyCast, dedicated to human resources topics, be focusing on this term? Because it is one of the ways we can approach the world and our jobs to stop trying to bail – or worse self-sabotage – just because we make early mistakes in learning a new family. The opposite of a growth mindset is a “fixed mindset” which suggests to us that if our instincts weren’t right to handle a situation that any correction is simply showing that our relationship to our employers is a bad fit and that any effort we might put forth to learn their preferences or procedures is inauthentic and unsustainable. This may be true some of the time, but the majority of the time it is not.If you are a nanny who recognizes that urge to run, listen on. Or, even better, if you can spare some eyeballs for a ten minute – yes ten minute! – YouTube video, stop this episode and watch the YouTube video in its entirety; the visuals by RSA do add something to Carol Dweck’s audio. You can find the video linked from the show notes for this episode or by going to nannycast dot com slash growth mindset.If you are driving or watching your charges or something else that requires your eyeballs, you’re still going to learn a lot from Carol Dweck via the audio so keep listening on.If you already know what a growth mindset is or already have one, we’ll see you in the next episode. For the rest of us, myself included, let’s learn!(transition to video)

nannycast:NannyCast 22: Employee (mis) Classification  // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //  Am I an independent contractor? My bosses think I should have a 1099, should I? What is a W2? Should I be afraid to fill out a W4? What is an I9? How about a W9? What happens if I get a 1099? And your mnemonic: Even numbers are your friend; Iiiiiiiiiiii’m not worried about it. Additional Show Notes: Recourse for Employees Misclassified as Independent Contractors / Link to SS-8 Homework Solutions on Employee vs Independent Contractor Mark Kohler on Employee vs Independent Contractor Hawkins Ash CPAs on Employee vs Independent Contractor Transcript after the break. Keep reading If you are in the United States, even though tax day has been postponed to May 17th, tax day is coming. If you don’t have your W2 in your hands, you need to have this podcast in your ears.

nannycast:NannyCast 23: Play  Early Child Development Series. This episode covers everything you could possibly learn about children and their play. We cover the six types of play as taught in ECE classes, as well as the two types of play-with-adults as taught to psychotherapists. And we teach you why play is important, not just that play is important. And for the human resources connection? This is your professional development, free! (download) Additional Show Notes: Dr. Diane Philipp on Child Led Play You and Your Young Child Danielle Shirley on Play Child-Directed Play and Parent-Directed Play: Two Ways for Parents to Play with Their Children Dr. Jeffrey Trawick-Smith on The Importance of Play Keep reading For those who attended the 2021 interNational Nanny Training Day, this podcast episode serves as a good companion piece to the session entitled A Conversation Regarding Play, Emotions, COVID, Play, and Puppets! which can be watched OnDemand until 2nd of May 2021.

nannycast:NannyCast 03: Industry Standard // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //Speaking of … the nannies of NannyCast investigate what is industry standard within the nannying industry. Interested in hiring a nanny? Learn what your nanny is likely expecting or needs to be warned is not the norm. Are you a nanny wondering if you are asking too much? Learn what your employers expect you to do so that you know what you need to make special mention of. For those who attended the 2021 interNational Nanny Training Day, this podcast episode serves as a good companion piece to the session entitled Nanny Contract Issues You Should Cover Before the Start Date which can be watched OnDemand until 2nd of May 2021.

NannyCast BonusCast: iNNTD Winner Announced // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //The time has come to announce the winner for the InterNational Nanny Training Day: Chapel Hill admission. Thanks to all who contributed. HACA13 is our winner!If you didn’t win the admission but would still like to attend the conference, point your web browser to https://nannyposse.regfox.com/inntd-chapelhill and tell them NannyCast sent you.CONFERENCE IS THIS SATURDAY 12 September, 2020.You can still submit card ideas for the 2020 Edition of Caregivers Against Hyperbole @ https://forms.gle/JxyG7Wgog3PXiUtF8Sound effects used in this BonusCast come from http://www.freesoundslibrary.comShoutouts to Nanny Posse, LLC and Nannypalooza for making this possible.

GuestCast 03: College Nannies, Sitters, and Tutors Founder | By All Means // download episode // Usually at this time, we re-air an old episode of NannyCast from our archives that is both evergreen and timely, but instead, we wanted to take a break from our patten to bring the third ever GuestCast. This one features the USA nation-wide nanny (among other things) placement agency: College Nannies + Tutors (and Sitters). Love them or hate them, if you work in a nanny market, they are there too! Listen and learn.Thanks to By All Means for having produced this episode so we can share it with nannies!

NannyCast BonusCast: iNNTD

GuestCast 02: The Nanny History of Canada // download episode //Usually at this time, we air a legacy NannyCast episode, but today we are bringing you the history of Canadian nannies done by the CBC. Similarly to the history of the US nanny shown in the NannyCast 18: Nanny Up, Our Take, we learn that Canada also has a problem with undervaluing care work due to its slavery past.

nannycast: NannyCast 22: Employee (mis) Classification  // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //  Am I an independent contractor? My bosses think I should have a 1099, should I? What is a W2? Should I be afraid to fill out a W4? What is an I9? How about a W9? What happens if I get a 1099? And your mnemonic: Even numbers are your friend; Iiiiiiiiiiii’m not worried about it. Additional Show Notes: Recourse for Employees Misclassified as Independent Contractors / Link to SS-8 Homework Solutions on Employee vs Independent Contractor Mark Kohler on Employee vs Independent Contractor Hawkins Ash CPAs on Employee vs Independent Contractor Transcript after the break. Keep reading If you are in the United States, even though tax day has been postponed to July 15th, tax day is coming. If you don’t have your W2 in your hands, you need to have this podcast in your ears.

NannyCast 41: The Fairy God Nanny Foundation and Fund // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // On April 13th, 2020, we invited Nanny Tass to come on NannyCast and explain her nanny charity fund, The Fairy God Nanny Foundation. We did a one of a kind live taping in Zoom where people could join and unmute themselves if they had questions they wanted answered. And we had attendees (though none had questions)! Make sure you follow NannyCast’s Facebook page to get invitations to all future community contribution events.Fairy God Nanny Foundation / Contact Them / WebsiteDonate via GoFundMe (for the Nanny Ball) & Donate via GoFundMe (for COVID-19)Link to Popcorn FundraiserThe Nanny Ball via My Nanny Circle who does Nanny Connect EventsInvitation to Join the Live TapingBonus Episode of the Fairy God Nanny Foundation

nannycast: NannyCast 33: Networks vs Communities  // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // What is a network? What is a community? Are they the same? What critical differences are there between the two that can protect you from an untimely tattling/firing? In the Newborn Care Solutions’s Real Talk Education on 19 April 2020, Hope Schachter recommended connecting with nanny community using online Facebook groups. DANGER WILL ROBINSON! Don’t do that before you listen to our episode on the difference between networks and communities. Make sure you seek community where community is.If you are curious about The Nanny Relief Fund, please take a look at our statement on that fund.

NannyCast 40: Nanny Exploitation with Ask The Nanny // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // On the 23rd of March 2020, Nanny Jen appeared on Ask The Nanny with Angela Johnson. This podcast is an edited-for-time version of the appearance. If you want to see the entire no-longer-live video, click here.

nannycast: NannyCast 30: Nanny Burnout  In this episode, Nannies Jen and Laura explore the complex topic of nanny burnout: where it comes from, how to tell if you have it, and how to fix it. // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // accompanying slide show // Voices for the Nanny Burnout Inventory come from the following generous voice actors: Seamus the Gentleman | seamusthegentleman@gmail.com Maria Micklasavage, Voice Actor | mariamick2017@gmail.com & https://mariamicklasavagevoiceover.com/ Creed CobaltBlue infotroph FancyOctopus from the Buried Gems Podcast | The internet is a treasure trove of original fiction! At Buried Gems we comedically dig through and try and find the next big thing.  Additional Show Notes: International Nanny Association // Nanny Support Groups by Locality Vulnerability Hangover Audio from Over My Dead Body Ep 4 Parasympathetic Nervous System Audio from Crash Course A&P Serenity Prayer Audio from The Anxiety Coaches Podcast Guided Meditation for Stress Relief Chronic Stress Audio from TED-Ed Why Mess Causes Stress from Psychology Today 2008 Monitor on Psychology from the American Psychological Association Fight, Flight, or Freeze? What is your Stress Style? Additional Bibliography: Stress and Hormone Basics Hacking Your Brain at Any Age Letting Your Body Turn Down the Stress 6 Ways to Clean Your Child’s Bedroom Once and For All Mommy Burnout (book) We know that with a pandemic in the mix, nannies are currently working jobs that are tremendously more difficult than what they signed up for. Hopefully you can find some relief in our episode on Nanny Burnout.While we advocate for having a vent session in person with a community nanny, due to social distancing that makes it harder, but not impossible, to find an online community. Listen to our episode on Networks vs Communities for the key steps to find an online community so you can find a sympathetic ear to vent to.In addition, Newborn Care Solutions hosted a trauma therapist to talk about coping through this pandemic. CLICK HERE to view the video on that topic. And CLICK HERE to view the NannyCast press release on the topic of the Nanny Relief Fund.

Some Great Community-Focused Announcements: // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // view FB Live // Join Nannies Jen and Jazz as each of them tells you about something cool that we are doing for the nanny community.Jen –> https://discord.gg/7hjQhw4Jazz –> http://nannyposse.com/giving-backNanny Jen’s Trivia Team @ https://www.facebook.com/events/244423759967255/

NannyCast 39: The Ethics of Nannying Through a Crisis Pandemic // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // Some of you have seen the post floating around from the Georgetown ethicist writing an advice column about what to do for COVID-19. A lot of you wish it were better fleshed out or addressed the full range of situations that are being faced in the nanny industry. As happens, I know a professional ethicist who happens to have experience with having employed a nanny, so it isn’t hypothetical to her. She is, quite conveniently, my mother. And in light of the “hurry, hurry, we need answers now” of the situation, I got her to chat with me on the phone - social distancing and all that - and recorded it.Additional Show Notes:Call for questions for this episode.Episode 10Ask the Coronavirus Ethicist (Georgetown Ethicist)National Domestic Workers Alliance Care FundEpisode 37

Bonus: Previewing the Fairy God Nanny Foundation // download bonus // subscribe to NannyCast // Bonus Feed //View the show notes on our Bonus Episode’s Bonus Feed page.Show notes from that page:On April 13th at 6:30 pm, NannyCast will be hosting a LIVE recording session that you are invited to join! We will be inviting special guest Fairy God Nanny Foundation to come on and talk about their recent fundraising efforts to help the children left behind by nannies who have perished due to COVID-19. Ask questions or just listen in and get an idea of how our process works.This bonuscast provides you with background information about the Fairy God Nanny Foundation so that you know what to expect and who they are. If you feel so moved, you can already make your donation.VIDEO

NannyCast 38: The Novel 2019 Coronavirus and the Nanny // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // Wherein NannyCast gives you a timely episode that addresses some of the issues in the nannying world that came about due to the virus formerly known as The 2019 Novel Coronavirus.Additional Show Notes:This Podcast Will Kill You | Coronavirus EpisodeOlogies | Virology f. CoronavirusesDaily Structure for Trying TimesNannyCast 21: Working While SickNewborn Care Solutions // Announcement of Professional Development SeriesinterNational Nanny Training Day 2020 UpdateTranscript after the break.[This Podcast Will Kill You Clip 01]We live in unprecedented times. While we here at NannyCast strive to make evergreen podcasts that will be useful for now and forever, we are going to interrupt our regular pattern by making a special SARS-2/COVID-19 podcast. Because we have a lot of nannying issues related to this outbreak.[This Podcast Will Kill You Clip 02]Will this ever be useful again? We hope not. Or at least not for at least another hundred years. I’m looking at you Spanish Flu of 1918 and your hundred years ago-ness.So before you write to thenannies@nannycast.com with your complaints that this information is out of date because you are listening to it in 2025 and we recorded it in 2020, just know that we know it will be and we are glad you are listening to our backlog of episodes.Let’s begin with some virology and epidemiological basics. First of all: What is coronavirus? What is the 2019 novel Coronavirus which has recently been named SARS 2? What is COVID 19? How do we keep all these words straight?To answer these and other questions, we have the following guest podcasts popping in with what they know. As always, links to each of their entire episodes will be available in our show notes for this episode over at NannyCast.com. Let’s let them introduce themselves.[This Podcast Will Kill You Clip 03]The Erins behind This Podcast Will Kill You are disease ecologists and one is even an epidemiologist.[This Podcast Will Kill You Clip 04]Still they are radical experts with expert sauce on top and more than qualified to talk about all these terms and give us some general background information. But also we have[Ologies Clip 01][This Podcast Will Kill You Clip 05]Now, since they recorded that podcast, the 2019 novel coronavirus strain has been named.[Ologies Clip 02][This Podcast Will Kill You Clip 06]COVID-19 is what happens when you actually get sick with SARS-2. As in have symptoms and that lung infection they mentioned. It is the disease. You can be infected with SARS-2, bopping around your daily life, virally shedding, and never have a fever, no cough, no nothing. That’s called being asymptomatic. [This Podcast Will Kill You Clip 07]And because [Ologies Clip 03]spreading SARS-2 to all the good little boys and girls without even having a sniffle. This is why you wash your hands even though you don’t feel sick. This is why you cover your sneeze even though you are sure the sneeze came from a charge blowing pepper up your nose. This is why you wave at Grandma instead of picking her nose for her. Because you could be transmitting and have no earthly idea. Sharing is caring, but sharing SARS-2 is NOT caring.[Ologies Clip 04]Why are we at home? Why are the kids at home? Why are the bosses at home? Why is the house so crowded that it is maddening? Why are the parks and playgrounds and libraries closed?[Ologies Clip 05]The short answer is because sharing isn’t caring. And you know what keeps people from sharing? Being caged. Caged in their homes. Now, while there are selfish idiots who know they have COVID-19, are symptomatic with it, and still decided to leave their houses and go to restaurants or concerts or the grocery store where they grossly coughed and sneezed all over the loose broccoli in the produce section, there are far more asymptomatic carriers who are going out in public and touching door handles or counter tops or ring-for-service bells. And they wouldn’t be staying home if only sick people had to stay home. So now EVERYONE has to stay home.And if it looks to you like there was no point in staying home because everyone seemed generally healthy, and I’m going to try to speak this in all capsTHAT IS WHAT A SUCCESSFUL MITIGATION STRATEGY LOOKS LIKE. This is success. It means that the disease isn’t run away. People aren’t that sick because the steps to prevent them from being that sick worked.So what to do? Pray for sanity.In addition, a good jumping off point for being stuck home with a school aged child whose schools have switched to a distance learning curriculum can be found in our show notes. Modify it as necessary, but it should keep the kiddos academics relatively on track.Depending on where you are in the world, your health authorities have made decisions about how they are going to respond to the pandemic based on available medical resources. In some areas of the world, there are attempts to isolate SARS-2 into nonexistence. In other areas of the world, the attempts are to get everyone sick as quickly as possible so that everyone can get better as quickly as possible because there are ample medical resources available to deal with anyone needing advanced medical care as a result of their illness. Where I am in the United States, the health authorities are using a strategy they are calling “flatten the curve” which aims to stagger the individuals needing medical resources so that the finite number of hospital beds and ventilators can be used to serve the most people.What this means is that most health authorities expect us all to contract SARS-2 and to have our immune systems fight it off and let that be that. Which means, nannies, that if the health authorities are planning for us to be sick, we need to plan for us to be sick. Now is the time to talk to our bosses about Paid Time Off or Paid Sick Leave. Because if the World Health Organization is figuring we are going to be sick, we are going to be sick, but we don’t have to be sick without pay. Also, for most of us nannies who work with the germ goblins that children are on a regular basis, us being sick shouldn’t be too inconvenient. Still, a sick day would be nice here or there.In Episode 21 where we discussed being ill, we said[Episode 21 clip]however in light of the fact that we’re going to be getting sick at a time when people might catch it from us and then die due to being one more ventilator needer than we have available, we are saying that the industry standard of working while sick is out the window and a self-imposed quarantine is the way to go. And make it, wherever possible, a PAID self-imposed quarantine. And as always, you can listen to the entirety of episode 21 by clicking on the episodes tab over at NannyCast.com.Now more nanny stuff. Some nannies are finding themselves surprise-fired by parents who are suddenly stuck at home so are trying to save a penny or two. This may be an outcome coming for you. So there is no time like the present to discuss the financial picture of your work family with them. Get their reassurances that your job is still fine, but then also brush up your severance clause of your contract to your satisfaction, or put a contract in place so that you can have a severance clause so you can be protected. Because some of the nannies who were surprise-fired had been reassured that their jobs weren’t in trouble, until … surprise! So believe the best, but plan for the worst.Also, now is the time to locate your local placement agency that places temporary or fill in care. Those agencies are being overwhelmed with requests for temporary and fill in care as daycares and schools are closing but the parents are still essential healthcare employees who have to physically and bodily show up to work. If you are surprise-fired, you should be able to easily, so long as you’ve already done the research to find out the agency and have gone through their background check procedure, easily slip in to good paying temporary work while you figure out your next permanent placement situation. No one needs to be financially disabled by the SARS-2 outbreak.In addition, Tonya S of Newborn Care Solutions is hosting a free series of 30 minute online webinars to give you extra skills to make you extra re-hireable. Even if you aren’t ever surprise fired, free is a good price to build your resume. And besides, what else were you going to do when everything else is closed?And one final note, Sue Downey, the woman who allows local organizers to be local organizers of interNational Nanny Training Day has said[Sue Clip]so do as she says and check in with your local interNational Nanny Training Day to see what’s up about that.And with that, we’ll return you to your regularly scheduled evergreen NannyCast episodes in the future. Nanny Jen out!

nannycast: NannyCast 21: Working While Sick  // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //  The nannies met up at the park to let the children run and to discuss the unique quirk of nannying which is that nannies are expected to work when sick. How do you know when you are too sick to work? How do you know when your charge is too sick for you to work? What happens if you suddenly become too sick to work? What about mental health? What do you need to have in your contract in order to be a nanny who is sick? Keep reading With all the hype going on about the COVID-19 strain of coronaviruses, this seems like a good time to revisit the topic of working while sick.

NannyCast 37: Get Sent to a Nanny Conference // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // This episode is all about how to get your employers to pay your tuition to a nanny conference or class, even if, and especially if, you didn’t negotiate professional development into your compensation package when you were hired. We cover step by step why you would want to go and how to structure the conversation with your employers. And even how to tell if they’ve said, “Please, keep convincing me!” without using those words. Because they never use those words.Additional Show Notes:NannyCast 24: Nannypalooza 2012 Career Talk Podcast: Professional Development NannyCast 11: Let’s Talk About Money, Our Take The Practically Perfect Podcast Swept Together: Episode 47 | All About The Ask The Atlantic | Askers vs Guessers Door Closing Audio Transcript after the break.I’m Nanny Jen, and today we are talking about how to add a professional development budget to your compensation package, after you’ve already started the job. This episode was inspired by the upcoming annual interNational Nanny Training Day event where a multitude of same-day, single-day, local professional development opportunities will be simultaneously attended by nannies around the globe, but is by no means limited to just NNTD. This can also be used for larger, longer nanny conferences such as the International Nanny Association’s conference or NannyPalooza. As a quick aside, NannyPalooza got featured in its own episode, Episode 24, which can be accessed by going to nannycast dot com and clicking on the “episodes” tab in the navigation bar. It will also be linked in this episode’s show notes.Now, in order to be a fully comprehensive podcast episode, and to mirror the pitch you would make to your employers, we are going to start with WHY you would want to engage in ongoing professional development. And to help make that pitch is [Stephanie Dennis host intro]She runs a podcast called The Career Talk Podcast whose full episode on the topic of professional development is linked in the show notes. [career talk clip]That last take home was short, sweet, and to the point. It benefits employees and employers. Which leads us in to our next portion: How to have the conversation with your employer. Like we started here, you start with how this will benefit them. And let me repeat that for clarity. THEM. How this will benefit THEM. Go in to this with the understanding that people are inherently selfish so they want to hear about how spending the money to send you to professional development will benefit them.And Steph gave us a good list of five ways which essentially boil down to that you’ll be better at your job which directly benefits them as the people who receive the results of your labor. AND, and how they react to this point is telling of your job overall, it increases employee retention. Meaning you stay working for people who invest in you. In fact, when we called for your nanny confessions as part of our book giveaway contest, we got an excellent confession that discussed National Nanny Training Day admission fee. To protect the anonymity of the confessor, we’ve stripped away the identifying details and substituted a voice actor, but you can still hear her upset which the voice actor faithfully duplicated from the original audio clip we received.[family never paid]It isn’t hypothetical that we nannies will leave jobs over professional development being unsupported, here is one concrete example being bold enough to state it for the record. And by the way, as an aside, if you ever want to contribute thoughts to NannyCast and don’t want your name or your voice used, we have a wide variety of ways to protect you as we protected this nanny. Please do not hesitate to visit nannycast dot com and click on the “share with us” tab in the navigation bar.If you need to when discussing a budget for professional development with your employer, feel free to point them to this episode of NannyCast. It is episode thirty-seven. Perhaps they need to hear that it is more than just your opinion?But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s back up. Let’s talk about the ask. If you haven’t listened to NannyCast episode 11 called “Let’s Talk About Money”, go give that a listen. It covers all sorts of awkward money conversations from the initial setting up of your compensation package to raises, and adding a professional development budget mid-work certainly does qualify as a kind of raise. It is a good learn-it-today-use-it-tomorrow kind of professional development offered by the duo behind the Practically Perfect Podcast. (wistful) I do wish they’d release the whole of the audio from that webinar as one of their podcast episodes since it is otherwise lost to the universe.That said, it is very important to start with the realization that there are two approaches to making requests, which a periodical called the Atlantic summarized as Askers vs Guessers. Neither approach is wrong, but when an asker meets a guesser there can be some unintended fallout. And to address all of this, we are going to bring in a podcast that is the reality-tv of the podcasting world called Swept Together. As always, a link to their full episode can be found in the show notes.[Swept Together Clip 1]So the question is to you: Are you an asker or a guesser?[Swept Together Clip 2]Now if you are a pure asker, you are already finished with this podcast episode and asking your employer for professional development funds for the specific professional development opportunity you had in mind. And if you aren’t doing that, you should be. Bye pure askers, we’ll see you next episode.[door close sound]Okay, so all that we are left with is impure askers and guessers. And what I mean by this is that we are left with people who are aware of the dynamic imbalance between an employer and an employee and that in the specific world of nannying, an employer might be upset having to consider a surprise request by an employee for, say, professional development funds. This is where feelers come in.[Swept Together Clip 3]Now, obviously we aren’t trying to be romantically involved with our employers, but we can still use a version of this to our advantage. Surely you have a professional connection, fellow friend nanny, or can invent a fake nanny friend who is attending the professional development opportunity you are referring to. And surely this nanny you’ve invented has her employers covering their tuition. And surely you can mention this to your employers to gauge their reaction to it and hope that the idea percolates in their mind so that a week later the employers take the initiative of offering you the tuition money without realizing you’d sprinkled some idea seeds into their ears. Is this lying? Well, that entirely depends on how much you feel like the nannies you know through the internet are real or not, because in the major nanny collaboration networks, there is always at least one person who is going to the thing and whose employers are paying to send them there. So I’d say not a lie, because I find those nannies to be very real.But what if you are trying to navigate this difficult intersection of asker vs guesser and employer vs employee with someone who is tone deaf to the fact that they are an employer with the economic power as well as an asker who is somewhat unaware of emotional subtitles involved in requests?[Swept Together Clip 4]So if you know your boss is the oblivious one, you simply follow up and say, “Have you given any thought to whether or not it is within your budget to send me to Professional Development Opportunity I Mentioned Before?” You still aren’t asking to go, you are asking them to invite you to go. Very indirect, and not my usual style, but it isn’t a wrong style to have. My father used to say, “Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to,” and when it comes to an employee making a compensation request, I’d say it helps to be fairly certain of the answer before asking the direct ask.But what if your bosses are guessers themselves? And as an imperfect asker or a guesser yourself, you don’t want them to feel compelled to give you a thumbs up if that isn’t what is truly in their heart.[Swept Together Clip 5]And there it is folks! Know your boss’s request style. Know this about one another. At a time where nothing is on the line, if you don’t already know, figure out how each of you handle requests in the context of an employer/employee relationship. Like, now? Now is a good time. There isn’t anything pressing right now, right? So it would just be a fun little anecdote to pull up the article from The Atlantic and ask them which they are as concerns you. It will also help you to know whether when they ask you to do a favor outside of your normal nanny duties, is this something you can reject without consequence or is this an incognito order.[Swept Together Clip 6]A guesser requesting professional development tuition of another guesser can always help the employer guesser realize how this is a win-win by listing some of those employer benefits from The Career Talk Podcast, providing a link to this podcast, or contacting their professional development opportunity’s organizer for any resources, handouts, or flyers they might have that makes the sell directly to employers. I’ve yet to see a nanny professional development opportunity where those resources weren’t available, but I’ve seen PLENTY of nanny professional development opportunities where those resources weren’t publicized.Now let’s talk about what isn’t a no. Unlike a lot of other situations where anything but a yes is a no, when it comes to making a request of an employer for professional development funds, a yes is a yes, a no is a no, and anything else is a “convince me”. It can be hard to see that, though.[Swept Together Clip 7]Oh to have an employer who is self-aware enough to communicate that this significant decision might require some think time. And if you have an employer that self aware, treasure them. For the rest of us, we have to remind ourselves that what is being communicated is simply that this is a significant decision requiring think time, NOT that this is a no.And in closing, we’ll hand you one more strategy. Don’t ask. Tell.[Swept Together Clip 8]So in conclusion: Professional development is good for the employee, it is good for the employer, we can number the reasons and list them off, it is important to be aware of your request style as an employee and your employer’s request style as an employer, and it is good to use strategies that navigate that unique mix of styles. Or just tell them that they are covering your tuition.See you at interNational Nanny Training Day!

nannycast: NannyCast 11: Let’s Talk About Money, Our Take  How do you get the raise or paycheck that you deserve and/or need? In this episode, nannies Denny and Jenni discuss what they learned in a 2012 webinar on that very topic: Let’s Talk About Money. For those who want to get straight to the point, the upfront ends at 3 minutes and 59 seconds. If you have an old NannyCast 1.0 episode lying around, get in touch! We are offering rewards for lost episodes! (download) Additional Show Notes: FREE NannyPalooza Webinars Blue Dog Creature Coaching (Durham and Chapel Hill, NC) NannyPalooza Webinar on “Let’s Talk About Money: How to Negotiate a Great Salary, Ask for a Raise and Other Tough Money Conversations with Lora Brawley” and Sue Downey There is more information if you click on the permalink for this episode. Keep reading

NannyCast 36: Nanny is not a Share Toy // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //What guaranteed hours doesn’t mean.

nannycast: NannyCast 07: All Things Quitting  // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast // How to know when you have come to the end of your road in your current job so that you can tender your resignation before things get ugly and bitter? How do you do it with maximum ability to preserve the relationship you have with the adults and children? What if there is abuse in the household? What about job creep? What about inconsistent pay? What about…? This is the episode that covers all of this, and more. Additional Show Notes: Giving Notice from the Practically Perfect Podcast

NannyCast 35: Online Abbreviations for Nanny Support Groups // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //MB told me to take G3mo’s BM out and BW her while I do. Then the WFHD suggested we try CIO in preparation for NNNO. Tagging this post NNR for attention!In this episode, we’ll help you decode the above message, as well as introduce you to even more abbreviations you didn’t even know existed. You’re welcome.Show Notes:Decrypting the Nanny CodeNAEYC’s Week of the Young ChildGeneral Internet Abbreviations and Acronyms

NannyCast 34: Introducing Nanny Jaz // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //We have a new NannyCast co-host: Nanny Jaz. Learn everything there is to know about her in this minisode.

Bonus Feature: Why Babysitting Isn’t Ready for the Gig App Economy // download bonus // subscribe to NannyCast //Normally on a week like this, we’d give you something amazing from our archives. But this time there is something too important to wait that needs to be shared now!From our bonus feed: Babysitting apps seem like a good or easy way to score some extra cash, but consider this before it considers you…

NannyCast 33: Networks vs Communities // download episode // subscribe to NannyCast //What is a network? What is a community? Are they the same? What critical differences are there between the two that can protect you from an untimely tattling/firing?

GuestCast 01: Windy City Nanny // download episode //Usually at this time, we air a legacy NannyCast episode, but today we are bringing you an interview done by Bob Salter of WFAN of a nanny who is known as the Windy City Nanny, and is also the author of Nanny and Me (a children’s book). You get to hear her voice say the same things that we already know: a nanny is a member of the parenting team and does parenting work, to walk away when a family isn’t a right fit, and that having a nanny doesn’t mean parental failures.