Role of Parent Helpers

Nanny care involves providing care for children at their home. Child care is taken by many people that includes au pairs, nannies, baby nurses, baby sitters and parent helpers. A parent helper is that person who provides full-time help with child care as well as with domestic duties of the family. Most of the time, one parent is present at home. When the parent is not present, it is the responsibility of a parent helper, to take care of the child for a short-term.

A parent helper may or may not live with the family. It is not necessary that the person should have child care experience earlier. The age of a parent helper is mostly between 16-20. Parent helpers are different from nannies. The parent helpers have no full responsibility for taking care of young children. They have to take occasional sole charge of older children on the parents order.

Some of the duties of a parent helper are mentioned here.

• Assisting the parent in household management and supervising child
• Under the directions of the parent, bathing, dressing and feeding the infants or children should be done
• Giving assistance in meal preparation, laundry, washing clothes, and other housekeeping duties
• May be responsible for pet care at times
• Looking after the requirements of children such as helping them in doing homework

Parent helpers have the family-friend features. They provide individual care and attention. They can also engage the children in games and other activities.

They may also help the children in their work at school. As a classroom has number of students, it can be helpful if a parent helper is there in a classroom. This comes in use in most of the elementary and middle school classrooms. The salary of a parent helper may vary based on the age and experience. Many qualifications are available that help a parent helper to take care of children.