Nanny Guilt 101

Here’s a lesson for anyone considering a nanny. You will have to resolve your Nanny Guilt. While this could be considered a side-bar of Working Mom Guilt*, I think it deserves a place of its own in the guilt universe. There are many aspects of Nanny Guilt that don’t involve work, ranging from the classic, “my child loves the nanny more than they love me,” to more modern concerns “my nanny has more family photos of my kid on her phone than I do on mine.” I think its pretty safe to say, though, that all of it stems from the insecurity that having a nanny makes you less of mommy.

So, how do you resolve Nanny Guilt?
By being the Best Damned Mommy ever! Spend your evenings teaching your baby sign language and making organic baby food. Spend your lunch hours researching vaccines and potty training. Spend your weekends at swimming lessons, Kindermusik and the park. Until…you are exhausted and can’t remember what your husband looks like. And are still riddled with guilt.

So, what am I doing now? Trying to embrace it. He loves her? Great! - that means he has another caring, wonderful person in his life. She has more pictures? Fantastic! I get to see how much fun he had that day!

And on the days when that doesn’t work and the Nasty Nanny Guilt rears its ugly head? I read celebrity gossip blogs and judge the celebaby mommas. Suri Cruise wears high heels and still uses a bottle. Hahaha. Yay me.

*Examples of Working Mom Guilt Moments: I love what I do and look forward to work every day. I just spent an hour at work thinking about my kid and or I just spent an hour with my kid thinking about work. I just handed a project to my coworker, who I know is already busy, because Jr has another ear infection. ETC.