HOW TO COMMUNICATE WELL WITH YOUR NANNY

How to communicate well with your nanny

Communicating with your nanny on a daily basis is really necessary for everyone’s sake. Although you spend 15 minutes in the morning and evening talking about your little one, you won’t necessarily have time to tell each other everything.

Here are some tips on how to talk about your day differently.

Take stock with your nanny

To start with, in order to keep on track and to allow your nanny to take the best possible care of your children, it can be useful to set up weekly meetings to take stock and prepare for the week ahead. This can be done live or by phone, depending on your respective availability.

Here are some essential points to remember in order to communicate well with your nanny during these meetings:

• a review of the past week and an exchange about the children;
• discuss any problems encountered by the children or the nanny and find solutions
• plan the week ahead by reminding them of the daily schedule and the tasks to be carried out (homework, meals, toilets, etc.).
• It may be a problem that you are having with the nanny in terms of a relationship or contract. Be careful never to bring a dispute to the attention of the children.
• It may be a private problem that concerns you and that you do not want to unpack in front of your child. This is the case with separations, deaths and all those things that children misinterpret in adult conversation.

If everything is going wonderfully well with your nanny, that doesn’t stop you from checking in from time to time to discuss the child’s development or simply to tell her that you are happy with her!

Having a family reference, guaranteeing good communication with the nanny

One of the rules that prevails in communication with your nanny is to establish a family referent in the exchanges. This will prevent the loss of information and the nanny will always know who to contact if she has any questions or problems.

Secondly, it will allow your nanny to always hear the same thing about your expectations or requirements. Because even if you agree on all the points between parents, you don’t necessarily have the same way of expressing it.

The liaison book, a tool for communicating with your nanny

The logbook is an essential tool for good communication with your nanny. It serves as a common thread in daily life and helps you to remember important issues. It’s a two-way tool: you enter your comments and suggestions. And the nanny will write down her account of the days spent with your children and her needs for the days to come.

In particular, you can enter :

• the children’s schedule for the day or the week,
• the menus for the week’s meals,
• the household chores to be done,
• useful telephone numbers (parents, doctor, school, leisure centre, etc.).

There are obviously other tools for good communication. It is now up to you to select the ones that suit you best. The most important thing is to find the means of communication that seem the most natural to you and that will facilitate your exchanges.