Twice a week, she cleans the entire house, including washing the floors. She drops off and picks up Tomek from school and after-school activities, walks the dog, takes him to the vet, picks up and drops off clothes at the dry cleaners, and sometimes goes shopping. She also sends business correspondence to her boss and sets up a Facebook page for her company. “I volunteered to do it myself because Tomek’s mom doesn’t know much about social media and wanted to have that profile. I’m glad my time is full, I don’t like to sit still. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD,” says Basia.
She is 38 years old and has been working as a nanny for 13 years. She is an economics professional by training and initially tried to negotiate, but found it very frustrating. Then an opportunity arose – a friend who used to look after the child wanted to change jobs and recommended her to her home. Now Basia has her sixth child. She found her current family through an advert.
He usually works about eight hours a day and earns PLN 4,000 a month. He has a work contract at the country’s minimum wage, and the rest is his own doing. The hosts pay all overtime, although now, after so many years, they no longer charge per minute. He has four weeks of vacation and sick leave. In one of her previous families, she worked at the child’s father’s company as an office assistant and received a fixed monthly salary, regardless of whether she spent five or twelve hours a day with them. There, in addition to taking care of the children (there were two of them), she cooked and cleaned. They paid her PLN 400 a week, but they gave her an apartment that they bought as an investment and that was vacant.
Earnings
Ph.D. Anna Wachowiak, prof. WULS-SGGW, Institute of Sociological Sciences and Pedagogy: – Nannies’ earnings in Warsaw generally range from PLN 4.5 to PLN 6-7 thousand, if we are talking about full-time employment. Earnings are also good in Gdańsk, worse in Szczecin or Białystok. But the trend is similar everywhere: nannies’ earnings are increasing and they are also required to have higher qualifications, for example psychological or pedagogical studies.
As the expert adds, the market is becoming more professional, agencies are being created to help find a good nanny (especially in big cities), but many nannies still work illegally. — Agencies charge high fees: an initial fee (about PLN 300 for 30 days), and after selecting the right candidate – a commission, the amount of which is kept secret. This can be discouraging. But parents from different social classes need a nanny, he emphasizes.
When Basia started looking after Tomek, she had a lot of freedom when it came to choosing activities. His mother leaves him money every morning, which he can use to spend on attractions. “We visit all the coolest playgrounds, several museums and all the train stations in Warsaw. We used to travel back and forth on the WKD, because he loves trains,” he says. “Sometimes, when I run out of ideas for what to see in the capital, we go further afield.”
If they spend time at home, they read books, play board games or role-playing games for children. A computer – yes, but only for an hour every three days. The boy does not have a smartphone. In the family where Basia previously worked, ten-year-old Kacper also did not have a phone, but a console – unlimited. She tried to keep him away from her in every possible way. Several times she turned off the traffic jams to take the young man for a walk.
Tomek’s parents, in addition to applying the principle of “as little electronics as possible”, also care deeply about their son’s privacy. The kindergarten or school did not allow his image to be published. “They care about him very much and at the same time give him a lot of freedom and make sure he is independent. When he was four, he could make a jelly sandwich and then he would help me cook. They never wanted me to do homework with him. They only ask for verification or explanation if they don’t understand something. They are also consistent. There was once a young boy who was constantly clinging to a door handle. His mother pointed it out to him and warned him that if he took it off he would have to pay for it with his own money. So they took money from his pocket for repairs,” Basia says.
She quickly switched to “you” with the boy’s parents, they are the same age. He often talks to his mother about private matters and feels comfortable in her house. “My boss likes it when I sometimes tidy up her closet. She says I can rearrange everything better,” he says. “At first I asked where I couldn’t look. They have a relaxed attitude about it, I put their clothes in drawers and closets, hang their underwear.”
She says she can’t complain about any of the families she’s worked for. Her way of maintaining good relationships is to put coffee on the table. From the first few days, he asks if there’s anything he shouldn’t talk about with the child. She also says she’s not a believer. She stopped working for one family after a few months due to ideological issues. The hosts were very religious and we soon had trouble adapting to each other. Sometimes, jokingly, they would ask if she was cursing them because the console would turn off and their clothes would have holes in them after washing.
Agreement
Małgorzata is caring for a one-and-a-half-year-old girl in a town in central Poland with a population of just under 70,000. inhabitants. For the first six months, her salary was covered by the state through funds for the activation of women who wanted to return to the labor market after giving birth to a child. When the county office reported that the money for the project had run out, Natalka’s mother offered to take care of Małgorzata more, but on different terms. She wanted to hire her at her mother’s company for a fictitious internship and thus pay her ZUS contributions plus the minimum wage, and hand over the rest. Małgorzata did not agree. She is 46 years old, she did not like the paperwork. Then she received an offer to take care of the child as part of her own business. With a salary of less than PLN 3,000. She would have PLN 1,900. zloty left. “And I have a son in his second year of studies.” “I’ll be eating the plaster off the wall soon,” she says. — We agreed that in July I would work illegally for PLN 18 an hour and during that time Natalka’s mother would take care of the daycare. But if I find something else, I will leave without any qualms, since they treated me like this.
Małgorzata was recommended for this job by a friend. During the first meeting with the parents, there was no barrage of questions, but rather basic questions such as: how she copes with childcare or how she wants to spend time with her child. The parents emphasized that they required a creative approach, but did not specify what activities they meant. Małgorzata knows basic English, so she and Natalka name colors or animals, although the girl is just learning to speak. They make footprints in salt dough and paint them with paints. “The problem is that I can’t ask for any materials. I usually bring my own so that we can have an interesting time. There is also a lack of snacks. Today, for example, I shared my apple with Natalka because there was no fruit,” says Małgorzata.
When they agreed on the working conditions, her duties included only taking care of the child, possibly cooking pasta for soup or potatoes. Now she prepares dinner for the little one from A to Z. One day, when there was almost nothing in the fridge, it all started with an innocent question if she would make zucchini pancakes. The range of dishes began to expand rapidly, and over time an argument arose: “Natalka got used to your tastes.” “When I see that she doesn’t have anything ready that I can reheat for her, I cook. My parents have lunch at work and often don’t even leave any products that I can use to prepare something, so on the way back from a walk we stop at the store. We sell our groceries on an ongoing basis, I take care of it,” she emphasizes.
Natalka has a five-year-old brother, but Małgorzata only sees him in the afternoon, when everyone returns home. The boy goes to kindergarten and then to his grandparents, where he waits for his parents. “This is the second time I have encountered such an arrangement,” he says.
The hosts have little control. When they come home from work, they ask what their daughter ate, but they don’t tell them about the rest. It’s not always possible to build this trust. The people Małgorzata worked for a few years ago installed cameras. They warned her about it, but she didn’t care. One day they accused her of letting her son eat with his hands. She explained that it was a natural developmental phase, but they didn’t accept it. They demanded that she teach her son to use cutlery.
Małgorzata remembers her previous job best – with a family who lived outside the city. “Stasiu had a separate drawer with art supplies, and my parents stressed that if I had an idea for something fun, they would buy me everything I needed. There was total commitment to the child’s development,” she says. “Mom kept asking Staś what he wanted. Sometimes I thought to myself that I hadn’t been so affectionate with my son. They had a house near the forest, so I would go for long walks with my son. When we wanted to go further to the playground, my mother would always give us a lift. She cooked for everyone and there was no way I wouldn’t have dinner with them. I didn’t have to run and buy anything. I earned more than PLN 3,500 and had a decent contract.
They ended their cooperation when Staś went to kindergarten, but they still meet sometimes for pizza. She dreams of a similar family.
Małgorzata says that since she started working more than 20 years ago, the demands of parents have not changed much. — In the advertisements in big cities I read: “free time entertainment”, “pedagogy of proximity”. It is a very good name, but most nannies have been using these methods for years. It is difficult to look after a child without inventing games for him or drawing with him. I also cannot imagine not hugging him when he falls or is sad, she says. Dr. Hab agrees with her. Anna Wachowiak: – “Encouraging time” or pedagogy of proximity are just new names for something that has always existed. La Fontaine has already spoken about this: “Our world has not yet become wiser, although it is old: as long as the sign is in fashion, it does not matter what products are used,” she quotes.
Availability
After graduating with a degree in business administration, 27-year-old Klaudia didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life. She accidentally came across an ad on social media – someone was looking for a babysitter for a one-year-old boy. She decided to give it a try. “Only my mother was present during the initial interview. She asked if I would look after children, but didn’t mention any specific requirements. She gave me a little one and watched me look after him, then she had a few days of trial,” she says.
When she was hired, with Frank’s involvement, she created toys out of cardboard, tape and paint, such as car tracks, colour sorters and a lion. “I tried not to rely on the toys he already had. My mother really liked it and said she appreciated the creativity. She spoke two languages fluently. I once suggested that maybe we could have a day where we spoke only in English, but she didn’t agree,” adds Klaudia.
She spent an average of ten hours a day with Frank. At night, she would get a text message from her parents telling her what time she was supposed to arrive (usually 6 or 6:30 p.m.), and during the day she would know when she would finish. She tried to force her hosts to keep her schedule regular, but they both had management positions and it was often difficult for them to leave work at a certain time. She finally gave up. “I didn’t have a family of my own, and my partner also worked late, so I thought I could be available,” she explains.
