What does a nanny do?
Nannies are family employees who are primarily responsible for taking care of children in the family's house. They are usually tapped to take care of the kids while the parents are at work or away on vacation. Their responsibilities include preparing food for the children, feeding the children, bathing them, dressing them up, ensuring that they take a nap, playing with them, and tucking them to bed at night. They also ensure that the schedule set by the parents is being followed. They may also do other household chores such as cleaning, watering the plants, washing the dishes, among others.
Nanny responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nanny resumes:
- Feed, bathe, play, and teach them abc's, numbers, and colors.
- Provide English language education (ESL) to young children.
- Work closely with parents to counsel and motivate child with ADHD.
- Tutor children in mathematics, reading, writing, and German/English.
- Organize activities for children and provide childcare while parents work or run errands.
- Develop into a caregiver, supporter, planner, and friend to the children.
- Improve English by taking ESL classes and actively seeking out opportunities to practice the language.
- Complete household tasks alongside watching children, such as purchasing groceries, doing laundry, running errands and preparing meals.
- Maintain a full time position as primary caregiver to their son from the ages of 4 months to 4 years.
- Help the kids with homework, pick them up from school, fed and bath them and put them to bed.
- Prepare balance meals and snacks for children with milk allergies, also help wean both children from bottles to solid food.
- Help around the house by doing parents laundry, unloading the dishwasher, running errands, buying groceries and prepare meals.
- Maintain current health immunizations and CPR certification for this position.
- Provide childcare for various families and maintain child safety through CPR certification
- Help with homework and transport to daily activities
Nanny skills and personality traits
We calculated that 29% of Nannies are proficient in Meal Prep, Kids, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, and Patience.
We break down the percentage of Nannies that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Meal Prep, 29%
Planned entertainment for several children, Provided educational activities, Managed household affairs such as general maintenance and meal preparation
- Kids, 24%
Helped the kids with homework, picked them up from school, fed and bathed them and put them to bed.
- CPR, 20%
Provided childcare for various families and maintained child safety through CPR certification
- Child Care, 6%
Provide skilled and compassionate child care and household management for families in Northern Virginia and traveling executives.
- Household Chores, 4%
Provided exceptional child care and performed household chores
- Transport Children, 1%
Transport children to appointments, school and extracurricular activities ensuring punctuality and attendance.
Common skills that a nanny uses to do their job include "meal prep," "kids," and "cpr." You can find details on the most important nanny responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a nanny to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "childcare workers need good speaking skills to provide direction or information effectively and good listening skills to understand parents’ instructions." Nannies often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "model appropriate social behaviors and encourage concern for others to cultivate development of interpersonal relationships and communication skills. "
Interpersonal skills. Many nanny duties rely on interpersonal skills. "childcare workers need to work well with people in order to develop good relationships with parents, children, and colleagues.," so a nanny will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways nanny responsibilities rely on interpersonal skills: "modeled appropriate social behaviors to ensure to cultivate the development of interpersonal relationships and communication skills. "
Patience. This is an important skill for nannies to perform their duties. For an example of how nanny responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "childcare workers need to be able to respond calmly to overwhelming and difficult situations." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a nanny: "age appropriate play story reading plan and facilitate activities homework help help serve nutritious meals skills used creativity, patience".
Physical stamina. For certain nanny responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "physical stamina." The day-to-day duties of a nanny rely on this skill, as "working with children can be physically demanding, so childcare workers should have a lot of energy." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what nannies do: "organize and engage children in educational games and activities that enhance children's physical, emotional and social well-being. "
The three companies that hire the most nannys are:
- CARE64,286 nannies jobs
- College Nannies And Tutors
50 nannies jobs
- Nanny34 nannies jobs
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Compare different nannies
Nanny vs. Sitter
A sitter is responsible for assisting medical needs under the supervision of an attending physician, registered nurses, and other health professionals. Sitters monitor the patients' daily activities and perform medical duties such as taking the patient's temperature, administering medications, monitoring food intake, helping with bathing needs, and responding to the patients' inquiries, concerns, and requests. They also keep track of medical charts to report the patients' health condition and progress to the senior staff.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, nanny responsibilities require skills like "first aid aed," "transport children," "discipline programs," and "drop offs." Meanwhile a typical sitter has skills in areas such as "patients," "patient safety," "home health," and "pet." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Sitters tend to make the most money working in the non profits industry, where they earn an average salary of $33,017. In contrast, nannies make the biggest average salary, $41,844, in the non profits industry.The education levels that sitters earn slightly differ from nannies. In particular, sitters are 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a nanny. Additionally, they're 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nanny vs. Pet sitter
A pet sitter is responsible for taking care of household pets while their owners are away. Pet sitters perform services for pet maintenance, including taking them to the veterinarian, monitoring their food, walk them in the park, and administer medications, if any. They also reach out to the pet owners for possible updates and emergencies, taking their instructions immediately. Apart from being highly communicative and organizational, a pet sitter should have an interest and passion in taking care of pets to ensure high-quality services.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real nanny resumes. While nanny responsibilities can utilize skills like "meal prep," "kids," "child care," and "household chores," pet sitters use skills like "pet," "walkers," "clients homes," and "topical medications."
Pet sitters may earn a lower salary than nannies, but pet sitters earn the most pay in the non profits industry with an average salary of $27,770. On the other hand, nannies receive higher pay in the non profits industry, where they earn an average salary of $41,844.In general, pet sitters achieve similar levels of education than nannies. They're 0.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nanny vs. In-home childcare provider
In-home childcare providers are professionals equipped with the skills needed to properly care for a child. They are employed by families who require assistance in providing the needs of the child at home. They take care of the child by feeding and cleaning after them. They also teach the child and provide tutorial services. They also take care of any special needs that the child may have. In-home childcare providers should be familiar with household chores as well. It is important that in-home childcare providers are patient and dependable.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, nannies are more likely to have skills like "meal prep," "kids," "household chores," and "first aid aed." But a in-home childcare provider is more likely to have skills like "nutritional meals," "homework assignments," "meal preparation," and "developmental problems."
In-home childcare providers earn the best pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $41,217. Nannies earn the highest pay from the non profits industry, with an average salary of $41,844.in-home childcare providers typically earn similar educational levels compared to nannies. Specifically, they're 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nanny vs. Personal care worker
A personal care worker is responsible for providing quality health care services for elders and disabled persons. Personal care workers are usually employed in a private household setting or a special healthcare institution, assisting patients with their daily activities, and monitoring their conditions. They update the patients' medical charts, administer medication from the physician's prescriptions, and manage their food intake. A personal care worker must be highly-organized, especially when attending to patients' needs, inquiries, and concerns.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between nannies and personal care workers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a nanny might have more use for skills like "kids," "child care," "first aid aed," and "transport children." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of personal care workers require skills like "patients," "home health," "good communication," and "in-home care. "
In general, personal care workers earn the most working in the professional industry, with an average salary of $29,488. The highest-paying industry for a nanny is the non profits industry.personal care workers reach similar levels of education compared to nannies, in general. The difference is that they're 1.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of nanny
Updated January 8, 2025
