THE NANNY AFFAIR
Most of us if not all of us have used or are using nannies,
house helps, ‘aunties’-like our children usually call them or maids in our
homes. I prefer to call them nannies. I have been inspired to write about
nannies because I realize that they are a significant part of my life, and the
life of my family.
I have had a roller coaster experience with nannies in my
seven years of marriage with some being good and others being out rightly bad.
I am sure a number of you will relate with some of my experiences. Is it
possible to positively influence this group of people to bring out the best in
them while giving our very best to them?
The Nanny affair- Medical Check ups
I am in the habit of taking the nannies I get for medical
check-ups which usually includes the blood test (BCP), urinalysis, Hepatitis, HIV
(with their consent) and Malaria. This
stemmed from the numerous horrendous stories I have heard about malicious nannies
that come with the intention to ‘kill, steal and destroy’ literally. So they
are aware they are not in good health and may be because they did not get
counselling for their medical condition, they are filled with rage, anger,
frustration and vengeance.
Some on the other hand are just not aware of their health
status and it would be good to know so that I start on medicating them before
the same is passed on to another family member and we then have to incur a
bigger cost.
Along the way, I realized that some of these nannies were
not willing to go for any check up despite how much I tried to explain the need
for a check up or to convince them. They are also not open to explain why they
will not consent to a medical check up. This of course often raises the silent
questions; what are they hiding? Why don’t they want to do the medical check
up? Can I still work with them without them cooperating on this one issue?
The medical checks are usually done a week after I have
stayed with the person and worked closely with them since I realized that I was
spending more on medical check-ups than I could afford as some of the nannies
were being fired in a day, days or before they could make a week. I needed to
be comfortable with the person and know that I am ready to work with them,
Person of Peace (POP). If your nanny or house help is not your person of peace,
I would advise that you release them before you drive each other up the wall.
While I am a strong advocate for the medical check-ups, I
have realized that one check-up before they start work is no magic bullet. I
have nannies that I have worked with that had initially consented to the
medical check-ups but I did not ever get around to taking them for these medical
tests. This I realized was because them consenting to the medical check-ups gave me a level of comfort that watered down
the need for check up. I have also come to realize that what is important is
not that one time medical check up since they can still contract whatever
disease or infection while under my roof but building a relationship with these
people for them to be comfortable enough to open up and also look out for my
best interests.
What are your thoughts on carrying out medical tests on our
nannies?
