So Excited! I Meet The Family Tomorrow!

[Abigail]

I'm excited, yet nervous. This is my first official family who needs a full-time nanny for their children. The job starts in two weeks. Does anyone have any advice? I just got off the phone with her and asked for her children's names and ages so I would be familiar with the names when I got there to meet them. Should I be prepared for any unusual questions that I should think about tonight? Now I'm all excited!

BTW: I've been in contact for a week with this family online and on the phone. The mom did a short interview on the phone discussing pay, times, and number of children/their schedules. The only question she asked was if I had any pet-peeves. That I found to be unusual because usually I'm asked about my childcare experience. LOL. A few days ago I spent an hour with the dad at a coffee shop to meet him, but we mainly talked about ourselves, where we group up, and what life in general is like for us now. He shared things about the kids, but usually during meetings in the past I would have been drilled like "Can you handle crying and screaming" "What would you do if they wouldn't listen" "How do you handle punishment" etc....keeping in mind it is babysitting that I've always been interviewed for.

[nannyde]

I gotta say this sounds a little off to me.

Are you SURE they are legitimate? It sounds odd that the Dad would meet you separately and have the conversation be about things other than the kids. It sounds odd that the Mom would ask a question like pet peeves.

Just be careful going over to their house. Make sure you have someone with you.

[Abigail]

We've talked about the kids on the phone and he shared information on the kids when we met. I just found it odd that I wasn't drilled for say. I enjoy my conversations with the mom and dad so far and can hear kids in the background on the phone. I know it's all real. I'm just wondering what questions I should be prepared for since I have not shown interest in a new family in awhile now since I started at the daycare. I need to freshen up on my question/answers for when I meet the kids. Oh yeah, the dad said he had a lot of pet peeves and I mentioned that during the meeting with him because I said it sounded funny having her ask that question and then he explained about him having pet peeves. He gave a few examples and one I remember was about how someone would tell their child "Don't do such-and-such or else" and then not follow through with it. They have a good structure in their house as it seems.

[Lianne]

I loved this site when I was a nanny. The message board is pretty quiet now but there's a lot of great info on the site. Check out the Library section on the site. Best piece of advice I can give you about the interview is that you are interviewing them just as much as they are interveiwing you.

[My Daycare]

I have been asked quite a few times if I have had any pet peeves with parents in the past. I always just say lack of communication, and then I may or may not elaborate the importance of it. Did he mean pet peeves with children or parents?

Good luck, I hope all goes well!

[Abigail]

They meant Pet Peeves in general....all I could think of what that I can't stand when the same person continually calls and gave an example of how I have a friend who says good bye and calls back over and over just to ask "Are you in bed yet" "Did you get your papers done" "What are you doing now" etc. LOL I should have said my pet peeve is bad drivers.....they drive me NUTS

She asked specifically about communication so I know that has been addressed that I would bring any issues up to her.

[laundrymom]

Good luck!!!!

be sure to let us know
and for the record, my pet peeves are,..

1. parents who smoke in their cars and homes with their kids
2. people who get a dog only to leave it outside chained up and never interact with it
3. people who cannot count back change,.. or make change without a computer
4. negative people. I love positive people and the vibe they give off.
5. hmm,.. people who blare loud music at stoplights that has foul language. Believe me,.. I got more bass than most 5000 watt amp and a 15 inch square kicker sub =-) can you say,.. 'cracked my windshield?'. and can have and will continue to show them up at a stoplight blaring something like HANNAH or celine or anything disney. !! at least then its just annoying and not offensive.

They meant Pet Peeves in general....all I could think of what that I can't stand when the same person continually calls and gave an example of how I have a friend who says good bye and calls back over and over just to ask "Are you in bed yet" "Did you get your papers done" "What are you doing now" etc. LOL I should have said my pet peeve is bad drivers.....they drive me NUTS

She asked specifically about communication so I know that has been addressed that I would bring any issues up to her.

[QualiTcare]

people that make noises when they eat - gulp their drinks and u can hear it going down - and scrape their teeth on their forks/spoons. that's pretty annoying and makes me wanna rip people's heads off. my husband sounds like a cow (even though he's skinny) when he eats and it's grounds for divorce. i'm really mad at his mom for not killing him for it as a child.

[care-care]

I'm excited, yet nervous. This is my first official family who needs a full-time nanny for their children. The job starts in two weeks. Does anyone have any advice? I just got off the phone with her and asked for her children's names and ages so I would be familiar with the names when I got there to meet them. Should I be prepared for any unusual questions that I should think about tonight? Now I'm all excited!

BTW: I've been in contact for a week with this family online and on the phone. The mom did a short interview on the phone discussing pay, times, and number of children/their schedules. The only question she asked was if I had any pet-peeves. That I found to be unusual because usually I'm asked about my childcare experience. LOL. A few days ago I spent an hour with the dad at a coffee shop to meet him, but we mainly talked about ourselves, where we group up, and what life in general is like for us now. He shared things about the kids, but usually during meetings in the past I would have been drilled like "Can you handle crying and screaming" "What would you do if they wouldn't listen" "How do you handle punishment" etc....keeping in mind it is babysitting that I've always been interviewed for.

Did you get the family???????

[Abigail]

I met the family tonight. Typical well-run family household, like I expected from how our phone conversations and meeting in person went.
Cons:
1. I really wish I could have my own house to bring all the kids too, I just don't like being out of place.
2. I'm very neat and tidy and minimal, they have so much everywhere that I wish I could re-organize for them....I consider it a hobby, it's actually fun for me to organize.
3. They live further out than I thought, I put 45 miles on my car driving there and back.
4. Considering the added hour of commute time (even though they have the same since they work where I live city-wise) that means that when winter hits very soon I'll be likely to be on the road much longer.
5. It's a Tuesday-Friday position 8-4:30 plus commute time, but Thursday is 8-1:30 plus commute time....my husband's days off are Wednesday and Thursday, so that limits us to Thursday afternoon/evening as I wake up early Friday to work again.

Pro's:
1. I love kids and six is almost my daycare capacity in the near future. It would be like pre-training on my own instead of working with other child care workers like I currently do.
2. It would benefit me on opening my daycare in the future with this reference since I'm not a mom yet.
3. The parents were both really nice and easy to talk too.
4. The two older kids are in school all day so I will always have four children all day and the six after school for an hour and a half.
5. The pay should be more than minimum wage, which is all I'm able to get right now in town working in the administrative field.

See....my Pro's and Con's are about even. It does come down to how much they'll offer. If it's not much more than minimum wage, I think I'd be better off working in the administrative field full time instead for six months so I can get the home loan I want (I wrote another post about why I need administrative work to get a faster home loan) and move into a house and start up my "dream" daycare. Thanks for all your support. I'm still going to call places in town to see if they have administrative openings because I'm leaning a bit towards working in town, saving me time and fuel and possible car issues. If I'm offered way more money than seems realistic, then I will lean towards the nanny position. LOL ::