Lessons Learned From the Film The Nanny Diaries

The first thing you need to do is realize that although you are living in their house, sometimes preparing meals for them, doing some of the cleaning, running most of the errands, and raising their children, you are not a member of the family. Johnson found that out after she mistakenly moved into the guest room. She didn't belong in the house as a family member or as a guest, but in a small bedroom in the apartment that happens to be the only room without air conditioning.

It's rare here in Manhattan to find a teddy bear that is only stuffed with fluff and love. As Johansson soon found out, all teddy bears here are stuffed with a tiny camera between the plastic eye, turning it into a nanny cam. While you would think the reasoning for such a device would be to be sure the children are properly being taken care of, it seems instead they are used to watch only the nannies, to make sure they are obeying and following all the rules. Future anthropologist Johnson figured out how to turn the tables with the teddy bear, and after the ensuing fallout, hopefully it has put an end to nanny cams forever, and teddy bears can go back to something that kids cuddle late at night to help them feel safe.

There will be no breaks during the day. Laura Linney, the mother of the family Johansson nannies for, reveals to her that her child is not allowed to take naps during the day, as once the child is turned over to her, she prefers him tired, so that he'll fall asleep right away, and she is free to go about the rest of her day. I suppose that one has to be be done just right, as a sleeping child is always a happy child, but a tired child is rarely a happy child. There must be a certain zone you strive for with this one.

Along with being a childcare specialist, you also need to be a gourmet, and not just any gourmet. You need to keep up with many different dietary needs that can change on a whim. While Johnson was initially told the boy was on a high soy diet, it was then narrowed further to only include French foods. It seems he wasn't doing well enough with his French lessons to get into an exclusive Kindergarten class, so Linney ordered that the nanny to make some French meal that I can't even pronounce, let alone spell, but I can tell you it had the name Jacques in it.

It's also a must that you learn to pick up the pieces when they inevitably fall. The children are allowed such rare time with their parents, that when they do get a chance to be with them, it takes on such great importance. Yet, when this falls through, and a planned visit just doesn't happen, you have to be there to fill the void. Johansson's charge takes on an unhealthy neediness for his father's business card, and she begins to make comparisons to a security blanket. The business card can only do so much, though.

It's simply not allowed, especially with anyone that might have a connection to the family you are working for. Not only is a night off rare, but you need to be on call, in case the parents decide they need additional time alone or need your help with a last minute shindig they are planning. In Johnson's case, she tried not to, but couldn't help falling for the guy upstairs that she knew was just as privileged as the people she was growing tired of working for. Yet, she called him Harvard Hottie for a reason, and apparently this guy was used to getting everything he wanted.

Despite all these additional rules, don't forget to fall back on everything you knew of nannying previous to accepting this position. Mary Poppins is still the God of all nannies, even beating the one that fell in love with the professor, and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious works just as well now as it did back them. SuperNanny JoJo certainly has a lot to offer the nanny world as well, so don't forget any lessons learned there, either.

The last rule is of course the most important, and the most dangerous, if not followed. You must never get attached to the children you're in charge of. Despite being with them nearly 24 hours a day, despite them learning that you are the only person in their life they can fully trust to always be there for them, and despite having the knowledge that you now have of how difficult their young lives can be, you must never get attached. Someday, no matter how well the arrangement works out, you will leave, and the closer your get to the children, the more difficult it will be for them and you to separate yourselves. Yet as Johnson's character, a future anthropologist learned, there was nothing about becoming a nanny that was even close to her ideas of escaping from the pressures of beginning a new life after college. She looked at her time with this family as an anthropological case study, and learned that just by observing this culture very different from her own, she changed it inevitably, and most likely vice versa as well.