From Nanny To Mom

In 2005, I fell into nannying. The previous year I had moved back from college (Louisiana Tech University) where I was studying family child studies. I had hopes of going to UNO and finishing with a counseling degree, but never did. After a few months of working, I moved out of my friend parents house. I was making just enough to pay my bills. It was fun being out on my own. I worked a retail job selling high end designer clothes and then started working at Mom's Day Out program my church had. Katrina hit in August leaving me displaced and living with my grandparents two hours west of New Orleans.

I went job hunting the first week after we knew just how bad Katrina was. I walked into a coffee shop looking for a job. I talked with the friendly barista and made my way back to my car. A lady stopped me on my way out and offered me a nanny position. She overhead my conversation with the barista. I typed a resume that she never looked at and went to her house that evening to babysit. I ended up nannying for almost eight years. All but one of the families I met on Craigslist. I loved being a nanny because I absolutely love kids and the money is pretty good.

I adapted to so many different parenting styles working for these families. I was paid to read Babywise and learn baby signs. I was to paid to forget everything and not even utter the words b a b y w i s e. Swim lessons, physical therapy, speech therapy, and tutoring have been my life the past almost ten years. Not to mention sleep training, bottle feeding, spoon feeding, potty training, terrible twos, and lots of creative play. Walking in on a new family was always interesting as I figure out how the parents want me to relate to them and the kids. Some parents want you to be supreme authority when they are home and away. Some want you to step aside if they are home. In my experience the parents don't really know what they want. It's a subconscious thing that I just try to figure out and adapt to on my own and by asking specific questions. I had so many great memories being a nanny. I worked for some of the best parents and was privileged to care for the some of the cuties kids.

Becoming a mom was intimidating because for the first time I had to choose what I wanted to do with my kid. How am I going to raise Wells. There is no one telling me to do things a certain way. It's my show now. Pretty scary but pretty cool too. Over time I've realized I've taken a lot of my parenting style from the older parents I worked for. They were the families that had older children and just had their last child. They were relaxed and less worried. I didn't have to fill out a form everyday or follow a rigid schedule. Most would prefer me not to follow a schedule and to change out of days with new and fun activities keeping life fresh and adventurous. I found the children of the older parents were relaxed, flexible, well behaved, and overall happier. On the flip side, I saw scheduling working. Babes that slept 12 hours at night straight and napped on cue everyday. And, a few that pooped at the same time daily. They were healthy and weren't picky. Scheduled or not, both styles work.

I'm thankful for shadowing wonderful moms for several years. My experiences molded me into the mom I have become. Being a nanny didn't prepare me for every aspect of being a mom though. I'm so attached to Wells. He is an extension of me, my heart crawling around the house. It's amazing and at times emotionally draining, in a good way. Being a mom is much different than being a nanny because of the heart connection with your own children. Well, for me this is true. That's where I pray that I seek the Lord for making decisions and aren't led my emotions in parenting. That the Lord will help me care for Wells' heart. I would be led by good decisions and not my blinded love. I once had a mom come to discipline her child and was not able to explaining 'Look at how cute he is, I can't say no to that'. I hope I'm never that blind. I don't think I've lost all my spine. As I continue into parenthood, I hope to keep my heart in check and learn from my mistakes. Looking to the Lord to help guide my heart and my decisions, not leading blindly through love goggles.

I'm privileged to have the best job in the entire world, being a mom.