100 Tips for Nannies and Families

When deciding whether to hire a nanny to care for their children, American families now have a new statistic to consider: how much time their children spend plugged into media.  Children with a nanny are less plugged into computers, iPods and video games than the national average. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation reports average use of media by children ages 8-18 is about 7.5 hours a day.  Nannies4hire.com subsequently conducted a study with nannies and babysitters registered with the online database service. In a survey of 1,000 caregivers, children ages 8-18 are only spending 1.6 hours a day on computers, watching TV, listening to music on iPods or mp3 players, and playing video games.   Thus, children with nannies spend almost 6 hours less on a daily basis being glued to a computer, television, or gaming screen or otherwise engaged in solitary, sedentary techno-activity. 

And what do children with nannies do with this extra time?  On average, children with a nanny spend 3 hours a day playing outdoors.  This increase in physical and social activity pays tremendous dividends.  Solitary, sedentary lifestyles have been determined to be one of the major causes of the growing incidence of childhood obesity and social maladjustment.  Therefore, another benefit of having a nanny in the home involves the health of these children as well.

“The number one goal of a nanny is the health and happiness of the child they supervise. They are not paid to watch a child with video games; they are paid to contribute to emotional, intellectual and physical well-being of the children in their care,” states Candi Wingate, President of Nannies4hire.com.  “Nannies interact with the children in their care, taking them outside whenever possible and engaging their minds in much more than the mindless activity of watching TV or playing on the computer,” Wingate continues.

Nannies can benefit families in many ways.  These recent studies add even more reasons to hire nannies for young children.  After all, what’s more important that the health and well-being of your children?