Parenting Daily

If your teen likes children and has significant nanny or babysitting experience, he/she may be interested in a position as a nanny or a “manny” (slang for male nanny). But beware if doing an internet search for these job opportunities. I came across one ad that sounded delightful—part time care of a three year old, car provided for use while working (presumably for taking the child to the park or on errands, appointments, etc.), a room available should the nanny need to (or want to, per the ad) sleep over, and the potential to eventually take a vacation with the family “as our last nanny did.”

But the skeptic in me said, “Check out their names, find verification that they actually exist.” And while I found plenty of people with their names, I didn’t find any proof that they existed as a couple or in the positions they claimed to be in. Further research brought me to this site, which highlights the nanny-scams they know about. Sure enough, the particular job ad I had found has been in circulation as a scam, under different names, for awhile.

Lesson learned. Do your research. Use a reputable website. 4nannies.com even has a page on safe job searching for nannies and protecting your teen from scams. Local searches in your hometown’s newspaper, face-to-face interviews, and talking to other nannies/mannies can also go a long way towards protecting your teen from that scam job that just seemed too good to be true (and was!).

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