WHAT’S YOUR MAJOR?
This Month, We’re Studying:
Nannying By Kayla Kibbe, Connecticut College emember when you were applying for your first job and your mom said you could put babysitting your little brother on your resume? Students seeking a Professional Nanny degree from Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky, took it seriously. Those who have completed the 12-month intensive program are more than just glorified babysitters, though. Since 1988, the program has prepped students for rewarding careers as some lucky family’s modern day Mary Poppins. Or livein mistress. Pick your stereotype.
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POTENTIAL JOBS
MYTH AND TRUTH
NANNY Governess, au pair. Call it what you want, it’s the obvious choice here. Whether live-in or out, full time nannies are responsible for the daily care of children whose parents can afford to legally neglect them.
MYTH: Nannies are just babysitters. TRUTH: It’s actually a very competitive field, increasingly dominated by highly educated professionals who play a critical role in shaping the intellectual and personal development of children. Translation: I WENT TO COLLEGE, DAMMIT. /// MYTH: Nannies are just there to sleep with the wealthy fathers. TRUTH: Check your heteronormativity. Maybe they’re sleeping with the moms, too. /// MYTH: Nannies are always women. TRUTH: Speaking of subverting gender norms, the twenty-first century is more than ready to welcome the rise of the manny. He might also be sleeping with the dad.
REALITY TV STAR Back in the early aughts, TV went through a phase where nannies were all the rage. From “Nanny 911” to “Beverly Hills Nannies,” a professional Nannying degree could just be your ticket to fame.
NOTABLE ALUMS MARY POPPINS Best known for coining your favorite impossible to spell word and feeding kids sugar by the spoonful. Also for being Julie Andrews. MARIA FROM “THE SOUND OF MUSIC” Nun-turned-governessturned-trophy-wife. The Austrian Dream. Is also Julie Andrews.
JANE EYRE The original nanny who married her employer, this nineteenth century heroine set a precedent for some of your favorite celebrity cheating scandals. CHRISTINE OUZOUNIAN Speaking of celebrity cheating scandals, here’s the nanny who ended Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck back in 2015.
KEY TERMS BABYSIT TING What professional nannies do not do. Don’t make this mistake.
S TA R T I N G S A L A R Y
$36,660 BOARDING SCHOOL The nannying field’s main competitor
CHILD DEVELOPMENT Children are born and then they develop. There is an entire field of study devoted to this fact.
POT T Y-TR AINING The art of teaching a human not to shit itself.
CHARGE Technical term for a child under a nanny’s care. See also: “ward” and “accident.”
FUN FACT CONVERSATION STARTERS “Isn’t it funny how people are so desperate to fulfill a cultural narrative emphasizing the impor tance of the nuclear family that they’re willing to have kids they don’t want and pay you to take care of them?” /// “Can you do the Fran Drescher laugh?” /// “So where do you stand on the nanny-cam debate?” /// “If you minor in French, do you get to be an au pair?”
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//MARCH 2017
This season’s “Bachelor” villain Corinne Olympios raised eyebrows after telling America she has a personal nanny. The 24-year-old said of her now infamous caretaker: “Raquel keeps my life together, okay? I have tried so many times to make cheese pasta, and I can’t make cheese pasta like her.” Images via univision /// artsdesk