Modern-day Mary Poppins’: College
graduates embrace nannying as career
When American University graduate Elyse Barletta, 27, was looking for a full-time nannying position recently in Charlotte, N.C., three families wanted to hire her — all were impressed by her college education. “They wanted someone who could help with their children’s homework,” said Barletta, a history major who made the Dean’s list and is proficient in French.
Experts say young women like Barletta make up a fast-growing segment of the nanny industry: college graduates who could go into law, medicine or other fields but are choosing to become career nannies, sometimes because they struggled to find jobs in their desired professions. These highly-credentialed child minders are being greeted with open arms into middle-class and upper-class families who want to give their kids an edge in an increasingly competitive world.
Barletta, who worked as a nanny in college to make extra money, tried but failed to find a job in her chosen field, nonprofit work, after graduation. But she has no regrets: Nannying,
