Why I Chose to Hire a Nanny

When I left school I was absolutely determined that I would be a career woman. I launched myself into my accountancy training with relish and studied as hard as I could. Within three years, I was a fully qualified accountant, and I felt as though I had the world at my feet. I transferred to London and spent several years working in the City, gaining critical career success and establishing a name for myself in a specialist role.

However, on the approach of my 30th birthday, I suddenly felt like it might soon be time to settle down. I had relocated back to Manchester and my school friends were starting to have babies. I couldn’t help but feel a little broody at times. The one thing that put me off was the fear of losing out on the career ladder to the many other successful women who would be quick to step in and take my place if I left to start a family.

Things took their course and in due time I married a wonderful man I had met in a bar one night in the city. He too was keen to have a family, so we decided that if I were to get pregnant we would simply juggle our finances and manage on one income for the four or five years I would undoubtedly be at home for. Before long I found out we were indeed expecting a baby.

Waving goodbye to my colleagues with a mixture of fear and glee in my heart, I embarked on maternity leave. Post-birth, it certainly was lovely to be at home with my little daughter, and I relished every moment we spent together. However, six months on and I felt restless and as if I were missing out on my career progression. Perhaps this sounds selfish, but I knew that everything I had been working for I would be able to give to my daughter hopefully in the future – the hard work would all be for her benefit.

Returning to work full time seemed a little too much, so we decided that I would go back to work three days a week. Unfortunately, both our parents lived over an hour’s drive away, so we couldn’t expect either of them to step in to help with childcare. Nurseries didn’t appeal to me, as I knew I would always be worrying about whether or not my baby was getting enough attention. As a result of both of these factors, I was left with the task of finding a nanny to come to our house.

At first I thought I would simply advertise for a nanny privately. Several disastrous interviews later, a couple of scares after researching the subject online and I decided that it would be far simpler and far safer to recruit a nanny via an agency. That is what I did and I haven’t looked back since.