Helping mom And Dad Find Some Free Time
Cherokee Profile
LEDGER-NEWS
Helping mom and dad find some free time
BY ERIKA B. NELDNER
Raising kids in this day and age
can be stressful. Whether both parents
work or one stays at home, a
mom or dad must juggle paying the
bills, keeping up a home, mounds
of laundry, and balancing kids’ extracurricular
activities. That’s
where Towne Lake-based Georgia’s
Dream Nannies (GDN) comes
in.
“A nanny makes the working
mom or stay-at-home mom’s job
easier,” said Serra Deville, president
and founder of GDN.
Deville started GDN when she
was a teacher at a local school. She
said the idea just came to her one
day.
“I didn’t know anything about a
nanny agency,” she said. “I got on
the computer and did my research.”
Within two weeks of her life changing
idea, and while working
during the off time of her teaching
job, GDN was up and running.
“It was completely God,” Deville
said. “The very next week after I
decided I wanted to start an agency,
we had a winter break.”
The school break gave Deville
some extra time to focus on her
new business venture.
The entrepreneur’s
dream has thrived in the last three
years. She has expanded to offer
people in Georgia, Tennessee and
North Carolina an alternative to
searching for domestic helpers on
their own.
Deville said she started the company
because it broke her heart to
see families in desperate need of
help trying to find someone on
their own.
“It upsets me greatly to see parents
going through the heartache
of trying to find someone on their
own,” she said. “They end up settling
because they do not have the
strength or time to go through it all
over again. If you’ve never done it,
you don’t know the ins and the outs
and the pitfalls of what to look for,
how to negotiate with the nannies.”
Deville said the recent popularity
of the nanny reality T.V. shows
may have helped parents develop
unrealistic expectations of what a
nanny actually does.
“I think parents get the wrong
impression for the T.V. shows like
‘Nanny 911’ and ‘Super Nanny,’”
she said. “They think (a nanny)
comes in and tells the parents how
to raise the children. That’s not really
what she does. When a nanny
comes in, she is to follow the parents’
guidelines.”
Deville said a nanny is more
than a babysitter but she should
never come in and run the household.
“A nanny is someone who works
consistently with a family and she
does more than watching children,”
she said. “She kind of manages
the home—like a mother’s
helper.
If it’s for a stay-at-home mom,
she blends in with the family and
becomes the mother’s helper. She
kind of mimics what the mother
does.”
Most of the paperwork for GDN
is done online. Deville said it
makes the process more organized
and efficient when the applications
are e-mailed to her and her
placement coordinator. She said it
also makes it easier when trying to
match the nannies looking for
work with the families looking for
help.
“When a parent signs up with
me, they fill out an application,”
Deville said. “I review their application
and see if they have realistic
expectations. Some people may
not know what a nanny does.”
Deville said a lot of times a parent
will have expectations of a nanny
that’s paid a certain hourly rate
but the expectations may not realistic
of what a nanny will do for
that price.
“What happens is a parent will
have high expectations and pay too
low,” she said. “Then the nanny
won’t stay—she’ll quit. As an
agency, we know what those nannies
will work for because we’ve
worked with so many.”
GDN doesn’t just place nannies
with families. They help refer governesses,
personal assistants and
household and estate managers
find compatible employers—whatever
the client needs and is willing
to pay.
The pay for a household helper
can range from $12 per hour to
about $25 per hour depending the
level of household help needed and
the number of children. Live-in
nannies can make anywhere between
$10 and $12 per hour +, Deville
said.
GDN charges each applicant a
$350 application fee, but if the application
is declined, no money is
paid………
All of Deville’s nannies are required
to have three years of experience
working with children.
Many nannies are former teacher
or student teachers.
Deville’s background includes
possessing a bachelor’s degree in
early childhood education, teaching
and working two years as a
nanny.
For more information on GDN,
visit www.gadreamnannies.com or
call (770) 517-0443.
ERIKA B. NELDNER | LEDGER-NEWS
Serra Deville, president and founder of Georgia Dream Nannies, thoroughly reviews an application from a
mother searching for a domestic helper. The company helps overworked parents find a professional to help care for children, as well as help with household duties.
BY ERIKA B. NELDNER
Some modifications have been made to the article to update it.