You Can't Afford a Nanny: What the TikTok Nanny Justine Mattson Had to Say
Recently, a working nanny in the Midwest of the United States and content creator, Justine Mattson, (ADHDZebra on TikTok) garnered lots of attention in response to her instantly popular video, “You Can’t Afford a Nanny.”
With over 63K likes and nearly 375K views, Justine discusses what she believes is behind the current chaos of the nanny industry.
In the video Justine states that “The reason it has been so chaotic is that the pandemic brought a huge new rush of families interested in hiring a nanny who never would have done so before. Why wouldn’t they have done so? ’Cause they can’t afford a nanny. They couldn’t then, and they can’t now.”
In fact, in the video, she doubles down to caution viewers that “Nannies should never make a wage comparable to what you would pay at daycare”—because nannies are not providing daycare service. They are not caring for groups of children but offering one-on-one care that is customized and personalized to each family’s needs, she explains.
And while she notes that nannies and daycare workers are not in competition—and she is not putting down one over the other—she believes “All labor has value, and everyone deserves to be paid fairly for their labor.”
And like many nannies, Justine grew frustrated by reading comments and hearing stories about nannies not earning a living wage and being taken advantage of. At the same time, she saw nannies “struggling to find decent jobs through the noise of unreasonable job postings” and that both new nannies and prospective employers know very little about the industry and usually do not know where to find information.
Creating the video was her tangible way of standing up for nannies and providing that important information along the way. “
The feedback on the video has mostly been very positive, and I’ve had the opportunity to connect with some fantastic nannies because of it! But there are definitely people who were very upset by the video and felt the need to try and ‘put me in my place,’ as it were. My favorite comments are from the parents who acknowledged that it was hard to hear and reflected on that instead of reacting with anger. The nanny parents who reevaluated their mindsets are the ones who made that video a success in my eyes,” shared Justine.
“I think [the video] resonated with nannies because we are not taken seriously by society at large. Many comments on the video proved that point, from saying no one with a college education would do something like nannying, to claiming that it is not a real job. As nannies, we have all heard that before. So, when I made it clear that nannying is not only a profession but a valuable career, I think people finally felt seen.”
To help middle-income families determine whether they can truly afford a nanny, Justine offers this tip in her video. “Look up the average rent where you live [and] multiply it by three.” Justine believes that if you can’t afford to pay that per month, at a minimum, nanny care may not be in your budget.
And for parents who can’t afford nanny care, she advises them to, instead of lowballing a nanny, “Look into ethical alternatives like a nanny share, which lets you work as a team to pay a living wage instead of having to do so individually.”
“Just because you can’t afford nanny care doesn’t make nanny care unreasonable,” said Justine. “Childcare needs to be affordable. Nannying does not.”
Reprinted from the Fall 2022 Issue of Nanny Magazine. Subscribe at NannyMag.com for $21 per year.