“Are you all alone, without a nanny? And how are you doing? " - during a recent holiday in Crete, my husband and I have repeatedly heard similar comments in our address. As if we had not one, and a rather calm 11-month-old baby, but a whole brood of screaming uncontrollable offspring.
Yes, we rested without a nanny. And without a grandmother, and without a babysitter. And, of course, I do not consider it heroism, although some treat it that way. Or they consider us to be masochists at all - what kind of rest with a small child without additional help?
True, in our beloved Cretan hotel EloundMare, only compatriots expressed sympathy for the lack of a nanny. Going on vacation with staff is, in my opinion, a purely Russian, more precisely a New Russian trend. (I do not take into account the Hollywood nobility and other celebrities.) The word "new Russian", however, has recently been sounding like something derogatory, and I by no means mean it. Simply, according to my numerous observations, nannies, as well as grandmothers accompanying kids and their parents on vacation, I see mainly in Russian families. And I myself would not mind, but this option is not even discussed here - my husband is categorically against it. In Germany, a nanny is, in principle, a rarity (German women, as well as French women, Israeli women, Dutch women, Scandinavians, etc., first sit with the child themselves, and then, depending on the length of the maternity leave,the baby is determined in the creche, in our day nursery), not to mention taking her with you on trips. And the wealth in the family does not matter much here - even the children of very wealthy parents go to the nursery. “Going on vacation with a nanny is a demonstration of parental impotence. This is how it is considered here,”my German husband said recently, making an uncompromisingly serious face.
Going on vacation with staff is a purely Russian, more precisely a Novorusskiy trend
We really did it ourselves. We got up at 7 a.m. or even earlier - the baby lifted us up, replaced each other during the day, and at 8 p.m., when, breathing in the sea air, the child slept without hind legs in a stroller next to us in the restaurant, they ordered a bottle of ice rose and for the first time in the day they started an "adult" conversation. And at ten they themselves fell off their feet. At the same time, I managed to get tanned, and during trips to my favorite Six Senses spa or long daily swims, of course, I appreciated every moment.
I have a lot of friends who cannot imagine rest and, in general, any trips with children without nannies and drag the latter with them around the world. I know one very business woman holding a respectable position in an international organization, she went to work when her daughter was three months old, and almost immediately began to take her, as well as the babysitter, with her on business trips. Between seminars and conference talks, she would run to her hotel room to breastfeed.
And I don't see anything bad here, in principle, except … depriving myself of personal space. Especially when it comes to vacations. There, even living in a separate room and understanding you perfectly, the nanny involuntarily becomes a part of your microcosm. You have to adjust to each other. And for me, rest is a very intimate thing, it's a piggy bank of future memories, where for some reason I don't want to let strangers in. At least for now.
At the appointed time, a babysitter knocked on the room. On the threshold there was a girl who looked like a high school student whom her parents had let go to a disco for the first time
Temporary nannies - more precisely, babysitters who can be “rented” on the spot - are another matter. We sometimes do such experiments. And among them we came across characters worthy of sitcoms. The first time we flew with the baby to Hamburg, when he was about three months old. One evening, when we decided to have dinner with friends in a restaurant next to the hotel, I decided to take a chance and asked the concierge of a respectable Hyatt to call a babysitter for a few hours, since the hotel praised her in every possible way. The well-fed baby fell asleep safely, and at the appointed time they knocked on the room. On the threshold stood a girl who looked like a high school girl whom her parents had let go to a disco for the first time. In addition to the stilettos and exemplary smoky eyes, she smelled harshly of heavy sweet perfume. "Do you know how to hold a child in your arms?" - I asked. I almost didn't feel like going to the restaurant. At first the girl did not understand me, and then she laughed - apparently, she thought that I was joking so as to defuse the situation. My husband literally dragged me away by force, and the kid did not wake up during those two hours while we were away. But he still smelled of those heavy perfume for a long time.
I ran into another unforgettable babysitter in the Swiss town of Vevey. A well-groomed and rather pleasant middle-aged young lady also appeared in boots with 10-centimeter heels and in a defiantly tight-fitting sixth, probably chest-sized turtleneck. I called this woman several times when I needed to leave for a massage. The first two times after she left, the box of chocolates on the coffee table was empty. “I have a lull in my personal life now, and I'm terribly drawn to chocolate,” she admitted. The next day, I specially left a new box of chocolates for her, which she also ate safely.
A good nanny, as I wrote once, is almost like a beloved man. This is great luck, a find that has no value. But sometimes you need to take a break from the nanny too.