(Photo Courtesy of Luxury Listings NYC)

I just read this article about wealthy New York parents that are hiring private investigators to trail their nannies. Sound wrong to you? I hope so. But I can’t say I’m totally shocked. I will say that I am feeling the need to weigh in with some professional advice.

To the parents with lots of disposable income who are currently hiring private investigators to trail their nannies: Instead of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to learn about your caregivers AFTER you have them on your payrolls, invest in screening your nannies BEFORE you expose your children to them. It sounds as though you are learning about your caregivers AFTER you have hired them. Note to you: You have this process backwards. Investigate first.

If you are willing to pay top-dollar to trail your nanny, why not use these funds proactively to vet your candidates instead of spending money to trail them? Are you hiring off online list serves? My strong suggestion is to take that disposable income and invest in using a reputable nanny agency that knows how to weed out some of the crazies and incompetents you have hired on your own. Use professionals who do due diligence in checking out candidates.  Could you have found out that your nanny likes to drink before 5PM and is not going to pay attention to your child before you hired her? I think so!  Did you do a thorough background check on her—including her social media outlets? Did you have someone other than you sit down and talk to her about her previous childcare experience? How many references of hers did you personally speak to? (No, one is not enough.) It doesn’t matter if you and her former employer use the same manicurist/hairdresser/trainer.

My professional and personal advice is that if you feel as though your nanny is not doing her job, you are probably right. Invest in working with a reputable agency to hire a new nanny and save the money on the PI service.

I look to NYC  for fashion trends to guide my yearly shoe purchases, but this is one trend coming out of New York that I sincerely hope is  will not go mainstream.