January hits and suddenly everyone’s talking about resolutions and fresh starts and making this year different from last year. You’re watching other people set ambitious goals while you’re just trying to get through another week of pickups and mealtimes and managing toddler meltdowns. But here’s the thing – New Year actually is a good time for professional check-in, not because there’s anything magical about January first, but because you probably have a little breathing room after holiday chaos and before spring intensity kicks in.
This isn’t about making unrealistic resolutions you’ll abandon by February. It’s about honest assessment of where you are professionally, what’s working, what’s not, and what changes would actually improve your career and life. Most nannies don’t do this intentionally – they just keep showing up to the same position doing the same work at the same compensation until something breaks or they get so frustrated they quit impulsively.
After twenty years working with nannies across Los Angeles and nationwide, we’ve watched career trajectories succeed or stall based largely on whether nannies periodically stop and honestly assess their situations. The ones who thrive make intentional choices about their careers. The ones who struggle just let things happen to them. January is as good a time as any to be intentional.
Assess Your Current Position Honestly
Start by actually looking at your current situation without the stories you tell yourself about why everything’s fine or why you should be grateful just to have employment. Is this position actually working for you or are you just accustomed to it?
Look at compensation honestly. Are you being paid fairly for your experience level, responsibilities, and local market? Not what you agreed to two years ago when you were desperate for work. What you should be earning now based on what you bring to the position. If you’ve been with the same family for years without raises or with minimal increases that don’t match cost of living increases in Los Angeles, you’re effectively making less each year.
Assess the work itself. Does it engage you or are you going through motions? Do you feel like you’re using your skills and experience or are you bored and underutilized? Are the kids at stages where you’re providing real value or have they aged into stages where they barely need you anymore? Is the scope of work reasonable or has it expanded beyond what you were hired for without appropriate compensation adjustment?
Consider the family dynamics. Is this working relationship healthy and respectful or have you normalized dysfunction because it’s familiar? Do the parents value you or take you for granted? Are boundaries respected or do you feel like you’re available to them all the time? When you think about going to work Monday morning, do you feel okay about it or do you feel dread?
Look at your life outside work. Is your schedule allowing you to maintain relationships, health, personal interests, and the life you want? Or is work consuming so much energy that you’re just surviving your off hours? Are you sacrificing things that matter to you because this job makes them impossible?
Be honest about what you’re tolerating that you shouldn’t be. We all make compromises in employment, but there’s a difference between normal workplace imperfections and situations where you’re accepting treatment or conditions that are genuinely problematic.
Set Actual Professional Goals
Once you’ve assessed honestly, you can set goals that address real gaps rather than generic resolutions. What would actually improve your career this year?
Maybe you need a raise and January is when you’ll request it with clear reasoning about your increased value. Maybe you need to update certifications that have lapsed or get new training that increases your marketability. Maybe you need to finally create a professional resume and LinkedIn presence so you’re not dependent on word-of-mouth for job opportunities.
Maybe your goal is finding a new position that better fits where you are in life right now. The job that worked great three years ago might not fit your current circumstances. Or maybe you’re ready to specialize – moving from general nannying into newborn care or transitioning into family assistant work or household management.
Maybe you need to build financial stability by creating an emergency fund so you’re not trapped in positions just because leaving would be financially catastrophic. Or maybe you need to finally address taxes and retirement planning instead of pretending you’ll figure it out someday.
Maybe your goal is professional development that makes you more valuable – taking early childhood education courses, getting advanced certifications, learning specialized skills like special needs care or lactation support or sleep consulting.
Or maybe your goal is actually leaving childcare for different work because you’ve realized this field no longer fits you. That’s a valid goal too if you’re honest that continuing in nannying is making you miserable.
The point is identifying what would genuinely improve your professional life rather than vague intentions to “do better” or “be more patient with the kids.” Those aren’t goals. They’re wishes. Goals are specific actions you can take that create measurable change.
What to Negotiate in January
January and early February are actually strategic times to negotiate with families because it’s post-holiday pre-chaos window and families are often thinking about the year ahead themselves.
If you’re asking for raises, January makes sense. You’ve completed another year of service, cost of living increases are real, and families are typically more receptive early in year than mid-summer when they’re focused on vacation planning. Come prepared with specific reasoning – your tenure, expanded responsibilities, local market rates, cost of living increases, and the value you provide that they’d struggle to replace.
If you need schedule adjustments, January is good time to request them. Maybe you need earlier end times to accommodate evening classes, or you need guaranteed weekends off, or you need schedule consistency so you can maintain commitments outside work. Frame these as sustainable long-term needs rather than temporary accommodations.
If scope has expanded beyond original job description, January is when you address it. Either the additional responsibilities need to be formalized with appropriate compensation, or you need to scale back to what you were actually hired to do. Don’t let another year pass with you doing house manager work while being paid nanny rates.
If benefits are inadequate or nonexistent, negotiate for health insurance contributions, guaranteed hours, paid time off, professional development allowances, or other benefits that reflect professional employment. Los Angeles has high cost of living and professional nannies deserve professional benefits packages.
If your contract needs updating or you never had a formal contract, January is perfect time to create or revise one. Clear written agreements about responsibilities, compensation, schedule, time off, and termination procedures protect everyone.
Go into negotiations prepared to hear “no” and decide in advance what that means for your continued employment. If families refuse reasonable requests for fair compensation or necessary accommodations, that’s information about whether this position is sustainable long-term.
Update Skills and Certifications
Part of professional development is maintaining current credentials and building new skills that increase your value and marketability.
If CPR and First Aid certifications have lapsed or will expire this year, get them renewed immediately. These are baseline requirements for professional childcare and letting them lapse signals you’re not serious about maintaining professional standards.
Consider what additional certifications would make you more valuable. Newborn care specialist certification if you love infant work. Montessori training if you’re drawn to that philosophy. Special needs certifications if you work with or want to work with kids who have developmental differences. Lactation counseling if you support breastfeeding families.
Take online courses in early childhood development, positive discipline, nutrition, child psychology, or whatever areas interest you and make you better at your work. Many are free or low-cost and you can complete them during your off hours over a few weeks.
Update practical skills too. If you’re not comfortable with technology that families expect you to use, take time to learn it. If your cooking repertoire is limited, expand it. If you struggle with organization, learn systems that work. If you find behavioral management challenging, study approaches that might help.
Read current books and articles about childcare, child development, and parenting philosophy. Staying informed about current thinking makes you more valuable to families and better at supporting kids.
The goal isn’t becoming expert in everything. It’s strategic skill building that makes you more competent, more marketable, and more confident in your work.
Decide If It’s Time to Move On
Sometimes the honest assessment reveals that your current position isn’t fixable through negotiation or adjustments. The job itself or the family or the circumstances have fundamental problems that won’t change. In those cases, your New Year goal might be strategically planning your exit.
If you’ve been mentally checked out for months, if you dread going to work consistently, if you’ve tried addressing issues and nothing improves, if the compensation or conditions are genuinely inadequate and families refuse to address it – those are signs it might be time to start looking for new positions.
Don’t quit impulsively without a plan. Use January and February to update your resume, reach out to your professional network, register with quality agencies, start interviewing quietly. Line up your next position before giving notice so you’re transitioning into something better rather than leaving out of desperation.
Also consider whether you need to leave this specific position or whether you need to leave nannying entirely. If you’re burned out on childcare in general, your next nanny position won’t fix that. You might need to transition into different work that uses your skills differently – teaching, household management, personal assisting, or something completely different.
There’s no shame in recognizing that what worked for you five years ago doesn’t work anymore. People change, circumstances change, and leaving positions or careers that no longer fit is healthy rather than failure.
Financial Planning for Nannies
Professional growth also includes getting your financial life in order so you have options and security rather than being trapped by financial desperation.
If you don’t have emergency savings, make building that a priority this year. Even small amounts saved consistently add up. The goal is eventually having three to six months expenses saved so unexpected job loss or personal crisis doesn’t immediately devastate you.
Get your taxes in order if they’ve been chaotic. If you’re paid under the table, you’re taking on significant risk and you’re not building Social Security credits or retirement eligibility. Push families to employ you legally or find positions that do. If you’re employed legally but you’re not handling taxes well, hire someone or learn the systems to manage it properly.
Start retirement savings if you haven’t. Household employment doesn’t usually include employer retirement contributions, so you’re responsible for your own retirement planning. Even small amounts invested consistently in IRAs or other retirement accounts compound significantly over time.
Think about health insurance if you don’t have coverage. Los Angeles has resources for affordable coverage options and professional nanny positions should include health insurance contributions. Not having coverage leaves you one illness or accident away from financial catastrophe.
Consider whether your income supports your life or whether you’re constantly struggling financially. If you’re barely surviving in expensive Los Angeles market, either your compensation needs to increase significantly or you need to reassess whether this career can actually support you here.
Financial stability creates professional freedom. When you’re not desperate for any paycheck you can get, you can make better career choices that serve you long-term.
Building Sustainable Career Practices
Part of making this your best year is building habits and practices that support sustainable long-term career rather than just surviving job to job.
Create work-life boundaries that protect your off-hours. Don’t answer work texts after certain times unless it’s genuine emergency. Use your time off to actually rest and recharge rather than being half-available to families all the time. Protect your personal life fiercely because if you don’t, work will consume everything.
Build a professional network so you’re not isolated. Connect with other nannies, join professional groups, engage with childcare communities online or locally. Professional relationships provide both practical support and emotional validation that you’re not alone in challenges you face.
Document your work in ways that build your professional reputation. Keep records of certifications, trainings, professional development. Save positive feedback from families. Track your accomplishments and growth. This documentation helps when you’re job searching or negotiating and it also reminds you of your competence when you’re doubting yourself.
Invest in your own wellbeing consistently. Professional caregivers are notorious for taking care of everyone else while neglecting themselves. Make your physical health, mental health, and personal growth actual priorities rather than things you’ll get to someday.
Stay engaged with why you chose this work originally. If you’ve forgotten what you loved about childcare or if those reasons no longer resonate, that’s important information. Reconnecting with meaning in your work or acknowledging you need different work both matter.
The Bottom Line
New Year doesn’t magically change anything, but it is good moment to pause and honestly assess your professional life. Where are you actually at versus where you want to be? What’s working versus what needs to change? What goals would genuinely improve your career versus what sounds good but doesn’t address real issues?
Most nannies drift through careers without much intentionality. They take whatever positions become available, they accept whatever compensation is offered, they tolerate whatever conditions exist, and they wonder why they’re frustrated or burned out. The alternative is periodically stopping to assess honestly and make intentional choices that move you toward careers that actually work for you.
After twenty years watching Los Angeles nannies and nannies nationwide build successful careers or struggle through unsatisfying ones, we know the difference is usually intentionality. The nannies who thrive don’t have perfect positions or ideal circumstances. They have self-awareness about what they need and willingness to make changes that serve them. They advocate for themselves, they build skills strategically, they set boundaries, and they leave situations that don’t work.
Use this New Year moment to be intentional about your career. Assess honestly, set real goals, take concrete actions. You can’t control everything about your work, but you can control whether you’re making choices deliberately or just letting things happen to you. Make it a year where you take control of your professional life rather than just surviving it.
