Nanny: Nannies are professional, in-home childcare providers. They can often be an affordable alternative to daycare/childcare facilities, depending on the salary range being offered and especially if there is more than one child to be cared for. Additionally, having a nanny provide individual and specialized attention and care to a family’s child/children in the comfort, safety, and familiarity of their own home can extend to families a greater peace of mind than with daycares.

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The main role of a nanny is to provide a safe, caring, nurturing, and fun environment in which a child/children can develop. General responsibilities include taking care of the child/children and most things related to that child’s care. Each nanny position may have different responsibilities depending on the family’s requirements, the age(s) of the child/children and other factors. Some typical responsibilities of a nanny are helping the child/children get dressed, preparing their meals, cleaning up after the child/children, helping with schoolwork, organizing the child/children’s extracurricular activities, etc. Other requirements may or may not include light houskeeping, transporting child/children to and from school/activities, grocery shopping, running errands, and doing the parents’ laundry, etc.

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Babysitter: A Baby-sitter’s primary responsibility is to care for the child/children, including entertaining the child/children, making sure the child/children is fed according to the parents’ instructions, and generally providing for the well-being of the child/children. Unlike a nanny, a Baby Sitter’s responsibilites typically do not include other household or extensive child-related responsibilities (e.g., there is usually no housekeeping, meal preperations, transporting the children, running errands, etc. involved). Some of the responsibilities may certainly be negotiated with a Baby Sitter, but are not typically part of the job description.