What Happened to the Nanny? Parental Reflections on Secondary Caregiver Loss

ABSTRACT

Stable, quality child care is an important variable in early childhood development. Despite the negative effects of losing significant relationships in childhood, no prior studies have examined how parents and their children experience the departure of a professional, in-home caregiver. In this study, participants were parents (N = 101) who had experienced the departure of an in-home, secondary caregiver (e.g., nanny or au pair) in the past year. Neither duration of care nor number of hours of caregiving per week were associated with parental report of children’s behavioral distress. Parental attachment style was associated with how parents responded to children’s negative emotions. Parental trust in the caregiver and caregiver sensitivity were associated with changes in children’s behavior after the departure. Parent and caregiver variables appeared to play a role in how parents felt their children reacted to the departure of a primary in-home caregiver. Overall, results provide preliminary information about the experience of secondary caregiver departure for both parents and children. Caregiver characteristics may be associated with children’s experience of a nanny’s departure and highlight the importance of considering these factors when deciding whether to initiate, continue, or terminate caregiver employment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This is especially relevant for researchers who are also parents employing secondary caregivers. Among researchers who are interested in attachment, children’s mental health and development, and family psychology, there may be resistance to examining topics related to secondary caregiver loss because of our own roles in employing secondary caregivers and the ambivalence we have about work/family life balance.

2. A full list of questions is available from the authors upon request.

3. Magagna (1997), Scheftel (2012), and Yakeley (2017) use the term mother as a condensed term for any parent who plays a mothering role. We have opted for the term parent here to include any primary caregiver/parent to whom the child is closely attached.