Nanny

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This article is about the personal child manager. For the female goat, see Goat. For the sitcom and movie see The Nanny.

A nanny is defined as "a child's nurse". The traditional nanny was a servant in a large household and reported directly to the lady of the house. Nannies were always female and this remained the case through the 20th Century. This role currently stands firmly as a sector of early childhood education.

The nanny in a great house ran her own tiny domain, supported by at least one nursery maid. Because of their role in child care, they were somewhat more indulged than junior servants. Nannies may have remained in the employ of the same aristocratic family for years, looking after successive generations of children.

Today, although many families employ part-time babysitters, fulltime nannies in the classic sense can only be afforded by upper-middle to upper class families. A nanny may perform tasks such as:

Providing childcare during the hours agreed upon with the employing family
Supporting the physical, social, emotional, creative, and intellectual development of children
Protecting children from harm and ensuring that they have a safe environment
Preparing appetizing and nutritionally-balanced meals and snacks
Maintaining good communication with the parents, informing them of each child's development and concerns
Maintaining the cleanliness and neatness of the house as affected by the children

Typically women in the 20 to 30 age bracket take up employment as nannies. Nannies typically earn low salaries. Sometimes the employer requires their nanny/nannies to wear a uniform. This happened often earlier during the 20th century, but since the 1980s many nannies instead can wear clothes that are comfortable for their work.

Famous fictional nannies include:

Mary Poppins
Nanny McPhee
Fran Fine, played by Fran Drescher in The Nanny
The BBC television drama series, Nanny, starred Wendy Craig in the title role, and ran from 1981 to 1983
Phoebe Figalily in the U.S. sitcom Nanny and the Professor which starred Juliet Mills and Richard Long.
Nanny on Muppet Babies
Nanny in The Nanny Diaries.

The word "nanny" normally connotes a woman or girl (originating from a pet name for a grandmother or for a female carer), but male nannies do exist, though they often use a different name (childminder for example, or more recently manny) for the job.

A governess, in contrast to a nanny, concentrates on teaching and training children.

Nanny

See also