The Job Is Not the Stage

Over the last few years, I have watched more and more people become interested in working as nannies inside private households.

I think that is a good thing.

For a long time this profession was underestimated, even though the work can ask for an extraordinary amount of judgment, responsibility and preparation.

But another version of the profession has become very visible too.

Private jets, yachts, resorts, courtside seats, beautiful homes, travel.

And yes, sometimes those things really are part of the job.

What almost never makes it into the photograph is what was actually happening that day.

A long flight with a toddler who will not sleep.

A suitcase repacked twice because the weather changed.

A routine you hold together even though home is nine hours behind.

Breakfast handled before anyone else is awake.

A private flight does not turn the day into a vacation.

A beautiful resort does not remove your responsibilities.

Luxury does not change the reason a family brought you with them.

You are there to work.

And often, while the setting looks extraordinary from the outside, you are working with the same attention as always — or more, because a new environment multiplies everything you have to anticipate.

There is something I notice when people are new to this world: the rush to show the place.

The location, the name, the detail that impresses.

It impressed me at first too. We are human.

But the setting changes every season and the work stays.

I would rather be known for the second one.

Because a family did not hire you to be in that place.

They hired you so that, in that place, everything would keep running as if they were still at home.

That includes security, protocols, schedules, silence, and reading the room well enough to know when to step in and when the most professional thing you can do is step back before anyone asks.

That part is almost never seen.

Over the years I have learned that your level is not measured by where you have been.

It is measured in your discretion.

In how you handle a difficult situation.

In how you speak about the rest of the staff.

In how you take a correction.

In how you protect private information.

And in whether you can work around high-profile people without needing that closeness to become part of who you are.

There can be beautiful experiences attached to this profession.

But none of them replace the work.

Maybe that is why, after so many years, the setting impresses me less and what happens behind it interests me much more.

Professionalism is not about showing people where you are.

It is about knowing why you are there.

— Ale