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  • Finding the right caregiver for your kids isn't easy, you need somebody responsible,

  • who you can trust completely and feel comfortable living your kids with. So, where do you start?

  • Well, that's where the Nanny Doctor, Dr. Lindsay Heller can help. She's a former nanny who

  • is now a clinical psychologist. Thank you so much for coming in. >>Thanks for having

  • me. >>So, the first thing we need to figure out is our family's needs. Do we need a live-

  • in or a live- out and what the nanny schedule would be? >>Right. The first step in finding

  • the right nanny for your family is to identify those specific needs for your family. Those

  • beyond logistical, practical things like hours and days, what you're gonna wanna think about

  • are you specific needs such as, you know, are you an outdoorsy family, very active,

  • you go hiking on the weekends or do you like to sit around and play board games and watch

  • movies. >>So, how do you figure out what nannies are out there that are available. Should you

  • go through an agency because I know a lot of people don't want to pay the fee? >>Well,

  • fees can be high for agencies however an agency can offer you a lot of security and that they

  • can handle the background check and do a lot of pre- screening beforehand and they are

  • professionals in this business. However, you can go through the internet and do some other

  • things; the important piece is getting them checked out. >>So, let's talk about checking

  • them about because once you figured out who is available you really need to screen them

  • and you say should start before you even meet the candidate. >>Absolutely. What you should

  • do is you should check out the resumes, whether you get them through the internet or you get

  • them from the agency. What you're gonna wanna do is screen those first and foremost, after

  • that you're going to place a call to the candidate, don't do an interview over the phone but just

  • a sort of, you know, get the feel for them, and then following that you're gonna wanna

  • do some personal reference checks. And I would even go as far to say go for a third- party

  • reference which is when you talk to maybe a former employer of that nanny and you find

  • out if there's any other adults maybe at a party or a birthday party [ unk ] around this

  • nanny who could also speak to this nanny's abilities. >>So, then when you've done that

  • and you narrow it down to that one person, you actually wanna bring them in and you wanna

  • -- after you've met them and you think you really like them, you wanna have them work

  • a typical day or even a typical week. >>Right. Yes. If they are a weekend nanny, what you're

  • gonna wanna do is have them work a weekend day, and you're gonna wanna be present for

  • that whole phase, don't' run the show but educate them about your family. Model appropriate

  • behavior to your children, pay attention to how the children are responding to the candidate.

  • >>And then you definitely have to do a background check? >>Absolutely. Background check is absolutely

  • essential, if you're going with an agency this is going to be built- in, if you are

  • gonna do it on your own, in California we have Trust Line Registry, however if you go

  • on the internet and look at different, you know, different organizations that do this

  • thing, they usually start about $ 50 and you can even pay a little bit extra to have them

  • do the sex offender registry. >>Okay, and then once that's check comes back clean you

  • can offer the position. What do you need to know before you offer this job and how should

  • you go about doing that? >>Well, you're gonna want to look through their resume and you're

  • gonna think about your original -- the needs that you identified early on in this phase

  • or in this process, and those needs are going to direct you to kind of what this job description

  • looks like and how you're gonna negotiate salary and how you're gonna talk about what

  • the job description looks like with the candidate. >>And Dr. Heller, I know there's always an

  • adjustment period when the nanny and the family are getting to know each other. How do you

  • make that go more smoothly especially for the kids? >>Well, the first three weeks or

  • three months is a very critical adjustment period, and it's also a time when a lot of

  • early firings occur and it's usually due to poor communication. This is a time period

  • when you're gonna want to educate your nanny about you and the nanny is learning about

  • your family and they're telling you how they are nannies. >>And we want to make sure our

  • nanny stay for a long time. How can you make sure? What can you do to help that process

  • allowed and make sure you have a long term nanny? >>Communication is key. Good communication,

  • being open when there's a conflict and really discussing that, benefits are also, you know,

  • if you could offer them things in addition to medical, dental or vision, if you offer

  • them things such as use of a car or cellphone or trips, or something, people are gonna stay

  • around a lot longer. >>And giving them raises I would imagine. >>Raises, absolutely. >>Okay.

  • And what are some of the good questions -- going back to the interview because that's the most

  • important part when you actually bring them in when you meet them. What are some of the

  • most important questions you can ask a nanny? >>Some of the most important questions you

  • can ask, first of all you're gonna really wanna know about safety so you're gonna wanna

  • know if -- you might want to ask them a question about in other situations, have you ever had

  • a situation where there was an emergency, and then listen to how they responded to that,

  • you know, do they contact the parents first, did they go straight to the emergency room,

  • did they have that information on them to know what to do. That's definitely a big point.

  • Also, you're gonna wanna know about things such as the transportation, do they have,

  • you know, some other, in additional to background check you can wanna look at their driving

  • record, do they have a driving record. Again for me that relates to safety again in your

  • child. Their knowledge of the ages of your children going back to identifying your needs

  • with your -- you know, in order to find the right nanny you're gonna want to think about

  • the ages of your children and has this nanny had experienced working with these ages. You

  • know, you might want a nanny who has a lot of experience working with babies or older,

  • but those are some questions you're gonna -- and also food, kind of nutrition, you know,

  • that's something you don't want your nanny driving through a drive- through every -- >>Exactly.

  • >>Everyday for lunch. If it's really important to you that your children are receiving good

  • nutrition then they need to know that. >>Okay, finally, how about red flags? What things

  • should you be aware of when you're looking at a resume or you're in that interview that

  • should make you go, " Okay, this is not the right person ." >>Well, as a mom I think you

  • really should trust your gut feeling in a lot of situations. These are your children;

  • if you are feeling uneasy about it you should really pay attention to that. Secondly, if

  • you're looking at a resume and you see a break in employment, I would wonder what that's

  • about and if, you know, sometimes people would say oh those are family emergency while sometimes

  • it's not a family emergency and that's a key word for getting through the interview. >>All

  • right. Dr. Heller, thank you so much, great advice, and if you'd like more information

  • about Dr. Heller you can go to her website www. thenannydoctor. com. Thanks for watching

  • Parents TV, your source for the best information for your growing family. >>Thank you for watching

  • Parents TV. Our families, our lives.

Finding the right caregiver for your kids isn't easy, you need somebody responsible,

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