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When Your Time as Their Nanny is Over

Losing your job and the people you love in one fell swoop.

By M WPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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I have been a nanny and babysitter for seven years. Seven years of meeting little ones and falling in love with them almost immediately. Seven years of “hello” and seven years of “goodbye”, although sometimes you never get a chance for the latter. Seven years of teaching and loving and disciplining. They’ve been the best seven years.

My first job as a nanny brought me so much joy, to the point I was willing to give up everything I had worked for in a retail job: moving up, up, up, getting all the promotions and raises, really setting myself up for a comfortable future. Two little boys changed my mind about kids, what it meant to have kids and raise kids, and what it meant to really devote yourself to someone else. I had the best relationship with the entire family, from the pets to the grandparents. The dogs would fight over who got to cuddle with me, and the grandparents would text me to thank me for taking such good care of their grandsons. This job wasn’t consistent and only lasted a little over two years, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Leaving them was heartbreaking, and I still think of them often.

Next in my nanny journey was a family with two kids; this time a boy and a girl, and one more boy on the way. The parents were friends with the parents of that first family, which is how I was introduced to them. It was supposed to be a temporary job, just until after the new baby was born and maternity leave was over. Luckily, I got to spend an additional four years with them.

I was there through a move, a job change, another baby girl (making a total of four kids!), first days of school, and all the milestones that come with raising children from infancy. Some days were spent cuddling on the couch while the rain poured down outside, others were spent running around a park for hours. We shopped, colored, went to the library, played pretend. I taught three of them to walk and talk, transitioned them from bottles to solid foods, from diapers to potty training. They looked to me for comfort and guidance and safety. These are days I sincerely wouldn’t trade for the world.

Illnesses, surgeries, happy moments, vacations - I was there for it all.

In this field, education and childcare, your time in a child’s life is always temporary. You know this from the beginning, and yet you let yourself get attached because love and devotion are things kids need to grow and develop. They become part of you. I will still see them occasionally, and it will be hard. Any time we spend together won’t be enough.

My time with this family recently came to an end. I was devastated and honestly, I still am. I wasn’t even concerned that I no longer had income. I had a job secured just days after finding out. My real concern was that they were my family. They supported me through a breakup, even offered to finish their basement so I could move in, rent-free. Before my last day, I had never spent more than ten days away from them. As I’m writing this, it’s been 21 days. Three whole weeks. I miss them.

As hard as it is to say goodbye and let them go, it is so worth it. All of the “I love you’s” and seeing all of the accomplishments and all of the thousands of hugs - they are what made it so amazing. Those kids wouldn’t be who they are if I hadn’t been in their lives. I wouldn’t be who I am if they hadn’t been in mine.

I’m heartbroken, but I am so grateful.

At least I have a new family to fall in love with and inevitably have my heart broken by. This is the way things are for me. Parents trust me to care for and love their children just as they do, and I never disappoint. Even the most difficult children win me over in their own way.

Through all of the tears and sadness, I’ll do it over and over again.

extended family
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About the Creator

M W

I’m a 26 year old nanny, who loves dogs and kids. Co-habitating with my boyfriend of not-quite a year, figuring life out together.

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