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City Life: Taking time off to work as nannies was the right choice for two students.
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After finishing high school many college-bound graduates are not ready to immediately continue their schooling. Such as the case with Centralia College students Becky Mauermann and Shasta Ross. Each took a year off after graduating to work as a nanny on the East Coast. A lifelong resident of Chehalis, Mauermann found that becoming a live-in nanny would be both a good way to make money for college as well as a great way to gain new life experiences. She signed with the New York Nanny Service, a nanny agency she found when looking through advertisements in a Seattle newspaper. After an extensive application and interview process, the agency matched her with a family from Long Island, N.Y. The family with whom Mauermann was matched needed a live-in nanny because both the mother and father worked long hours. The family only had one girl, Paulina, who was 2 years old. After a phone interview with the mother, Mauermann was hired and left for Port Washington, N.Y. in September of 1995. After settling in, she began to venture out and discover all the New York City had to offer. Mauermann loved to shop at unique shops in the Village. Another highlight of her stay was attending a few Broadway shows, including Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. Mauermann essentially became a part of the family she was living with. So much, in fact, that they asked her to go on a family vacation to Greece. They stayed with relatives in Greece for two weeks where she got to see Athens and many of the Greek Isles. One of Mauermann's future goals is to major in elementary education. She thinks her experience as a nanny is a good stepping stone to help her meet that goal. She also thinks that taking a year off before enrolling in college was the right decision for her because she feels she learned many valuable lessons in life, ones she could have never understood in a classroom. Shasta Ross, another Centralia College student, also nannied for a family on the East Coast. Ross spent the first three summer months of her six month stay living with a family on Fisher Island in New York. Fisher Island is an exclusive seven mile island without a restaurant or a mall; it has only a few shops and country club. Fisher Island is so small that cash is not used; the families vacationing there have a running tab all over the island and they pay at the end of their stay. Ross was in charge of two children: a 4 year old boy, and a 7 year old girl. During the summer months on Fisher Island the children took various lessons offered by the country club. After the end of the summer, Ross and the family returned to their other home in New Canaan, Conn. Shopping at her favorite store, Abercrombie and Fitch, along with other unique shops in downtown Manhattan were just a few of the things Ross enjoyed. She also liked going to midnight movies, and traveling to Boston, Mass. and Providence, R.I. Unlike Mauermann, Ross found out about the family she nannied for through a friend. She felt she really discovered a lot about herself and about true responsibility while away. Ross said she would recommend becoming a nanny, with a few reservations. "First of all, you need to realize what you will actually be doing," she said. Ross explained that a nanny is directly involved in being responsible for someone else's children and helping to shape those children's lives. Discipline can be hard if a nanny doesn't start the job by setting guidelines that not only correlate with her beliefs but also with the parents' beliefs. The biggest
tips Ross could offer to prospective nannies is to carefully screen the families,
and to talk to someone who has worked as a nanny before in order to get a
true feel for what the job entails. Ross also noted that there are many books
about becoming a nanny that give helpful hints as to what to look for and
important questions to ask.
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Although Ross and Mauermann both said they would recommend becoming a nanny, they noted that it is not a decision that should be made lightly. Mauermann said, "I recommend that you do some research and find out what the job and family are truly like before you make any commitment." |
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