Money Mama: Celebrity Nannies

It amazes us how celebrities can juggle filming or singing careers with maintaining million dollar appearances and raising kids. As it turns out, raising kids is the easy part. Pose for a few pictures, and fork over dough. Celebrity nanny jobs pay more on average than hedge-fund analysts, and in comparison to regular nannies, the difference is staggering. Just what does it take to be a well-paid nanny of a famous person’s child?

Requirements

• Background Check: The Huffington Post reports on the subject stating that prior to even being allowed to enter a celebrity’s home, the candidates must pass an intensive background check and drug test. These checks focus specifically on things related to everyday activities that the nanny would participate in: driving, shopping, being alone with the child, being in an expensive home around expensive items, etc. Should anything suspicious show up relevant to those categories, they would be considered a risk.
• References: Good references are a must for any person wanting to be the caretaker for a celebrity’s child. To establish credibility and trustworthiness, a set of recommendations assures the famed star their precious ones will be well taken care of.
• Experience: If possible, celebrities chose caregivers with more experience. This ensures the can handle anything that comes their way, emergencies or otherwise. Furthermore, as the Christian Science Monitor illustrated, nannies must also be up-to-date on childcare. Even if a candidate spent 10 years working with children, if they haven’t recently been doing so, it may not qualify them for the position. Parents, especially in this day and age, want the latest and greatest information to be used and a “rusty” caretaker may not get the job.
• Unique Conditions: In addition to the basics, celebrities routinely require unique qualifications to be met by the candidate. These include being bilingual in at least two languages if not more, having background in various sports such as baseball, soccer, or ballet, and fitting a specific body-type. According to the same article by the Huffington Post, Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband Chris Martin searched for a nanny who could fluently speak four languages, play two instruments proficiently, and fit the description of “sporty.”

Job Description

• On call 24/7: Presuming a candidate meets all the qualification requirements for the specific prodigy, what can they expect to deal with on a regular basis? Celebrities Staffing Services gives a basic description of exactly what a nanny’s obligations are. Generally, their role includes the complete care and supervision of the child (or children). Feeding meals, dressing the child, driving them to school and activities, playing games and providing entertainment, correcting behavioral issues, scheduling naps, and mentoring the child as a mother or father would do is often what the daily obligation list looks like. Basically they are expected to wait hand-and-foot on the child and be on call at any given point in time, day or night.
• Traveling: Most celebrity nannies are required to travel with the family year round, even on short notice. They assist children with packing and other travel procedures and keep them occupied on long trips.
• Discretion: All nannies are hired under the strictest discretionary policies. It stands to reason that celebrities would prefer their help to remain as anonymous as possible, and publicity is kept strictly to a minimum. Most nannies are not even allowed to disclose for whom they work.

Benefits

You would hope that these pseudo mommies were well-compensated for their time, availability, and secrecy, and rest assured, they are indeed paid sufficiently. Considering they can make up to $185,000 a year, as indicated by Forbes, this job certainly comes with strong appeal. In addition to the six-figure salary, nannies are often given a brand new car, up to $10,000 in bonuses, and paid living quarters of their own. As an added luxury, designer handbags and other such trinkets are given as gifts to beloved caretakers for Christmas or birthdays.

Though being a mother of someone else’s child could be tough, it certainly pays well as a career choice, assuming you land a job as a nanny of a movie star.