A Nanny on the Net is a destination for practical in-home childcare guidance — a place where families can learn how professional nanny relationships work and caregivers can explore what a real childcare career looks like.
What this site is today
Today, A Nanny on the Net is a purely informational guide. We don't place caregivers, take applications, run background checks, or maintain candidate listings — and nothing on this site should be read as an offer of those services. What we do instead is keep the accumulated know-how of two decades of in-home childcare practice organized, current, and free:
- A complete hiring guide for families — from job description to signed agreement
- A career guide for caregivers — qualifications, references, and finding families worth working for
- Deep dives on the decisions that matter: nanny vs. day care, live-in vs. live-out, and whether to use an agency
- The practical machinery: interview questions, work agreements, and the pay-and-tax plain-English FAQ
How we handle facts
Childcare advice ages quickly and badly when it is unsourced. Where the stakes are highest — health, safety, and law — we point to the primary authorities rather than paraphrasing them: the American Academy of Pediatrics at HealthyChildren.org for pediatric guidance, the American Red Cross for CPR and First Aid training, and the IRS's Publication 926 for household-employer tax rules. Where we describe industry practice — fee structures, screening standards, caregiver tiers — we describe what reputable practice has looked like across decades, and we say so plainly when something varies by region or by state law.
A note on the name
"A Nanny on the Net" was a charming name in 2002 and it still suits a practical guide for families and caregivers. The beach-postcard design brings together families at the seaside, sky-blue pages, and a straightforward approach to childcare.
The guides focus on practical questions families and caregivers can evaluate together.