Nannies thrive in Jacksonville as more people opt for in-home childcare

Sharyn Edmiston has a nanny so she can run her nanny business.

Edmiston, who’s placed more than 5,000 nannies in the Jacksonville area through Advanced Homecare Placements, said she’s typical of many of her own clients: as a working mother, she’s trying to provide for her family but wants them to have the personalized and routine care a nanny can provide.

“I’m a better parent, because I’m able to do what I love to do and have this person I trust, that I love as family, care for my children,” Edmiston said.

Edmiston’s business is flourishing because of women like her, who have similar needs. In fact, despite the recession, rising costs and even some conflicting research about the benefits of in-home child care, nannies continue to thrive in Jacksonville.

Between May 2007 and May 2009, the number of child-care workers in Duval County rose 8.3 percent, to 2,848, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. During that time, the average hourly pay rose 7.3 percent, to $9.43. Almost all reported child- care workers were women.

A nanny is defined by the International Nanny Association as a child-care specialist whose workplace is primarily in a family’s home. Duties can include tending to a child’s basic physical needs, enforcing discipline and providing social and intellectual stimulation.

Despite the labor bureau’s wage numbers, Edmiston said qualified, experienced nannies are paid $11 to $15 an hour.

Some nannies are part  time and watch children after school, and some can work up to 60 hours a week and travel with families.

Au pairs

Au pairs are often brought in from a different country to live in the home with a family and care for the children for usually up to a year.

The Bureau of Economic and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State sets the payment of au pairs, which is $195.75 a week. That rate does not include room, board or education costs.

Au pair Audur Sigurthorsdottir,  who lives with the Wicker family in their Baymeadows home, has been there since November caring for their daughter Georgia, 3.

As part of the au pair program, Sigurthorsdottir must complete six hours of academic credit; she’s enrolled in a camping survival skills course at University of North Florida and can’t work more than 45 hours a week or 10 hours per day.

Sarah Wicker, Georgia’s mother, said she opted for an au pair after hearing of a friend’s positive experience with them. She also said there’s comfort in knowing her child is with someone who is considered part of the family in her own home.

“My mom stayed home with us, and I remember one of the best things was never having to go anywhere in the mornings,” Wicker said. “It’s nice to be able to give that to Georgia.”

Wicker said Georgia sees Sigurthorsdottir, who is her third au pair, as a playmate and friend. They share a bathroom, and Sigurthosdottir’s room is sandwiched between Georgia’s room and the nursery for her baby brother, Cole, who was set to be born by scheduled C-section April 8. 

“I think it just gives Georgia a more well-rounded perspective on people and on life,” Wicker said.

Post-partum nannies

Post-partum nannies, a new trend in child care, typically stay only at night for newborns while parents sleep.

Lynn Ferraro has been a nanny 12 years and a post-partum nanny for the past four.

Ferraro said she’s hired for her experience with getting babies to sleep through the night at a young age, and said mothers are eager for advice rather than taking it personally. She said she remains connected to all of the families she’s worked with because of the bond that forms between them.

Lindsay Heller is a Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist and former nanny who specializes in nanny and family dynamics. Heller, a mother who employs a nanny, said nannies in children’s lives are more beneficial than harmful.

“You want your children to be attached to your nanny,” she said. “You want them to feel when they’re out in the world, they feel connected to that person.”

She also added nannies can teach children empathy and compassion. However, if a family has a high turnover rate of nannies, it could be damaging to the child because they are constantly saying goodbye to people and are protective in forming new relationships.

Edmiston agrees, which is why she’s not concerned about her boys’ attachment to their nanny, Anna Snider. 

“If children aren’t connected to their nanny, they’re not safe,” she said. “If they listen to her, they follow her direction and love her, they’ll do as they’re supposed to do.”

Nanny skeptics

Although Heller thinks nannies are good for children, she said au pairs usually work for families with a primary caregiver in the home so the two can work in tandem to care for the children. Heller said au pairs can lack experience, are young and, because they are experiencing a new country for the first time, may become overwhelmed by their environment.

A 2010 study by Dennis Friedman, a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said boys exposed to nannies may be more likely to be adulterous as men because they are exposed to multiple females at young ages. Friedman also said infant females develop a “vacuum of need” from having a nanny, which might later be filled through substance abuse or promiscuity.

There’s also judgment from outsiders that parents with nannies are allowing strangers to raise their children.

“There’s a stigma about families that have nannies, in general, that they have too much money that they don’t know what to do with or they have no interest in raising their children, and that’s just not the case,” Ferraro said. “My families are looking to enrich their lives and enrich the lives of their children.”

 

Tracy Jones: (904) 359-4272