" Proxy " Parenting !

It was probably inevitable but when " Nannies " became an allowable tax deduction because of the unavailability of places in kindergartens and early learning facilities the scope of their activities widened and then people who hired them applied new thinking to what they began to see as their " servant "  !

Welcome to the age of " Proxy Parenting ".   Today it is not unusual for Nannies to be called upon to supervise the children's homework assignments, take them to their sports and double for mother when she is rostered for canteen duty.   Doctors are often surprised when the children attend medical appointments accompanied by their Nanny rather than a parent, and teachers are even finding the Nannies filling in at parent/teachers meetings.

This seems more applicable when both parents hold higher level jobs.  They are used to having secretaries or personal assistants in the workforce to filter out wasteful intrusions on their valuable time and it is comparable reasoning to apply that thinking to the home scene.  It is a form of substitution that is now running into confidentiality problems.

Professional people are subjected to very strict laws on what information they may divulge to other than the parents of children in their charge.   Often the discussion involves permission for further action and acting on the approval of a subordinate poses a risk if a parent later lodges an objection. The Nanny may be there on the instruction of a parent, but whether that person has a legal right to approve decisions made is legally unclear.

We seem to be seeing parenting retracing the world of Edwardian England where the grand old traditional " English Nanny " was the institution that taught manners and virtually brought up the households children with little parental supervision.    The children of the household were often paraded before the parents for approval at long intervals, but otherwise were entirely under the control and direction of their Nanny.    That is very much a foreign innovation here in Australia.

It seems that the very English " class division " is threatening to intrude into the Australian way of life. There seems an ever widening of the pay differential with the upper bracket becoming extremely wealthy as opposed to general pay levels retreating.  We have an ever growing number of people who lack the educational level to rise to the demand for work skills that are required in this electronic age and who are perpetually under employed on a low paid casual basis.  Consistent work at this level no longer exists.

This " Nanny "  phenomenon is simply human nature adapting to a new reality.  That old maxim that " when one door closes, another door opens " applies.  Substituting for parents has become a necessity for many because of time demands on the jobs where both parents work and now that gap is being filled with people who have attained the skills to deliver the service required.  The pay is quite good and often the work delivers use of a car to transport the children as part of the job.  It is a new form of professional service which brings with it an expanding level of status with existing employment areas.

We probably need some sort of law change to allow parents to legally transfer to their nominee the right to receive confidential information and make decisions on the basis of such a document signed by the parent.   It seems that " proxy parenting " is now one of the realities of life and has a need for legal definition !