A common worry about nanny care is that children will end up socially isolated and stuck in the house with their nanny all day but one to one care doesn’t mean that your nanny and child will spend all day every in just each other’s company. A good nanny will work with you to develop and expand your child’s horizons.
Babies benefit from being in their own surroundings with a stable, consistent adult carer much more than they benefit from seeing other babies at nursery. Although they might find other babies intriguing for a short time, children don’t actually play together until they are about 2 years old. This doesn’t mean, of course, that it’s healthy for them to go without other social contact all day, no more than it’s healthy for a nanny, but you don’t need to send your child to nursery for them to see other children. Search out local toddler groups, classes and story times and trust your nanny to make judgements about the people she meets.
The friendships that develop between children who see each other with their nannies can be a lot more flexible than the friendships developed at nursery. They can have the experience of inviting their friends to their house, which involves sharing their toys and their space, as well as seeing where their friends live. They get the fun of spontaneous play dates and learn to be a good host as well as a good guest.
A benefit of encouraging your nanny to create a local circle of nanny friends is that if she is ever sick, or you have trouble covering her holiday, you can reach out to those contacts who will know your child and your nanny’s style of care, which is hopefully the same as yours, and create a short term nanny share, with the understanding that you are happy for your nanny to reciprocate and host another child at your house if their nanny is ever ill.