If you’re a nanny questioning whether or not you can maintain your career and also become a mother, check out the latest The Great Unicorn Search podcast episode with Courtnee Jones. She discovered her passion for child care when she worked in a preschool as a teen. Fast forward to today and she’s a career nanny and toddler mom. So how does she do it?
Mom Me and Nanny Me
When Courtnee became a mom, she was already an established nanny. But once her kid came around, she decided to take a break to spend quality time with her daughter. She talks openly about her struggle with postpartum depression and after about eighteen months, she realized she wanted to get back into professional child care.
The problem was that Courtnee didn’t know if it was possible to be a nanny and a new mom at the same time. She rarely heard of nannies with young kids taking on full-time jobs, which left her with this mindset: being a nanny with her own kids is almost impossible.
But Courtnee didn’t let her fears stop her from going back to the career she loves. She’s passionate about using her skills as a caregiver to improve the lives of parents and especially their kids. She found a way to create a life for herself that allowed her to be both an attentive mom and a caring nanny.
The Hidden Nanny Community
As she was getting back into her child care career, one of Courtnee’s biggest challenges was finding a role model to learn from as she entered a new chapter of her life.
As she searched for a community of nannies for support, she scoured Google and other online resources. She realized that many child care providers don’t share publicly that they’re nannies—especially moms. Courtnee says this is a problem because it’s so important to lean on your community for support.
There’s no accredited program or required degree to work as a nanny, which makes it harder to discover others on this path. Courtnee wants to help break the stigma in her own way by refusing to stay silent. She shares her advice with other nannies online, and in October, she’s heading to Nannypalooza to give a talk about life as both a nanny and a mom.
Empathetic Expert Advice
There’s so much more to Courtnee’s conversation with Nicole on the Great Unicorn Search podcast.
Courtnee is full of excellent advice for new and experienced nannies alike, and she shares tons of tips during her interview. To find out what Courtnee learned as a daycare teacher and to hear her advice for nannies building their careers, listen to this week’s episode of the Great Unicorn Search podcast. You can listen to it on the podcast website, Apple, Spotify, or Google.
