Real Life My trial as a royal nanny
Gillian Harvey tested the techniques used by the most revered nanny agency in the UK Bedtime Going bilingual Messy play Games galore Getting outdoors Trying new flavours Rewarding good behaviour
Let’s face it, lockdown has been tough for parents. We’re juggling jobs with homeschooling, and many would love a bit of help. So, I looked to the best in childcare for inspiration. Norland nannies are carers to the rich and famous – including, of course, the Cambridges. Armed with a brown uniform and a set of rules, Maria Borrallo began working for the royals in 2014, and she’s been indispensable. So what tricks does she have? And would they keep my children – Lily, 10; twins Joe and Tim, eight; Evie, six, and Robbie, five
– entertained?
Norland nannies insist on an early bedtime of 7pm. I love being a mum, but can’t help but also crave that window of time we have when the kids are in bed and I can watch TV. Bedtime is usually 8 or 9pm for my lot, but they didn’t complain as much as I thought they would when I asked them to change into their pyjamas a whole hour earlier. We read stories, tucked them in, switched off lights and wished them goodnight – all by 7.30pm! Of course, none of them managed to drop off and our evening was peppered with tousle-haired visitors, requests for glasses of milk, and suspicious pattering footsteps. Not the best start.
DAY TWO
Maria Borrallo sometimes speaks to George, Charlotte and Louis in Spanish to help them with their language skills, and since I speak a little French, I decided to start off by dropping the odd French word into conversation. Some were ignored, others earned me odd looks. One of my boys generously told me that bonjour means ‘hello’, which says a lot for his opinion on my prowess with the lingo. Determined, I swapped Evie’s usual bedtime story for a French easy-reader. She seemed to enjoy it. But as I went to turn out the light, she looked confused before asking for a ‘real’ story.
DAY THREE
Letting children get their hands dirty gets a big thumbs-up from Norland – and, admittedly, when I first became a parent, I was all for messy play. But now, with five kids, you need eyes in the back of your head. So it was with trepidation that I popped open the paint and asked Lily, 10, to cover some rocks in white. She managed admirably. And as the rest gathered with markers, I realised that now the kids are older, they can cope with more messy materials without leaving chaos.
DAY FOUR
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are encouraged to play educational games and puzzles – but recently, exhausted, it’s been too easy to say yes when my brood ask to go on the Playstation instead of a game of snakes and ladders. Still, determined, I got out our collection of jigsaws, Mikado, dominoes, snap and Jenga. Between us, we played them all. And it was fun. I realised that while the thought of lugging out the games box seems overwhelming, it’s actually not that bad.
DAY FIVE
In lockdown, the need for my husband, Ray, and I to work, paired with our kids’ need to be entertained, means that tablets have encroached into our lives more than before. Norland nannies prefer to take children outside, so we drew up a timetable. They could play on the tablet in the morning, but it was outside at 11.
Amazingly, the kids were more than willing to fling their devices aside. Which made me realise that perhaps they’re not
– as I’d worried – addicted.
DAY SIX
To prevent fussy eating, Norland nannies introduce new foods every few days. My kids have a limited palate, and while we get our five-a-day most of the time, it’s often the same five.
It was about time I added something new. For lunch, I made crepes with cheese and ham, and salad and pasta. They were all very excited about the crepes, but only two ate them. The others weren’t keen.
DAY SEVEN
Norland nannies use behaviour charts, and while all my kids, of course, are wonderfully well behaved, some are more wonderfully well behaved than others. Would this help to motivate them? Intrigued, I created a chart listing all the ‘good’ things they should incorporate into their day – fruit and veg, exercise, being kind to others.
My eight-year-old, Joe, isn’t a big fan of homework, or rules, and gets a lot of pleasure out of teasing or leaping on his little brother – but, surprisingly, he showed the most interest. The problem was, in a way he was too motivated.
He leapt early from his bed the next day, and by 8am had ‘exercised’ (a run round the garden), ‘eaten well’ (an apple), and ‘been kind to his brother’ (made him some toast). He was finished, and thought this meant he could now spend the rest of the day doing whatever he wished. I had to explain that he hadn’t quite got the idea.
Verdict
All in all, the week was a mixed bag. I’ve learned that sometimes I assume my kids won’t warm to a task, without actually trying it. I’m definitely going to be buying in some more paints, and I might tackle the French again. Like most parents, I’m also determined to get more of a handle on the screen time. But I think we’ll be more or less sticking to our rather boring meal rota, and although I’d love to tuck the kids in at 7pm each night,
I have to be realistic if I want to stay (relatively) sane.