As per the definition laid down by The International Nanny Association, a nanny is "employed by the family on either a live-in or live-out basis to undertake all tasks related to the care of children. Duties are generally restricted to childcare and the domestic tasks related to childcare. May or may not have had any formal training, though often has a good deal of actual experience. Nanny's work week ranges from 40 to 60 hours per week. Usually works unsupervised."

Those who are looking for a job as nanny, one should understand that the work of a nanny is more than babysitting a child. She is expected to take part in activities leading to social, emotional and the intellectual development of the child under her charge. She should work in the areas of language skills development, proper potty training and social manners. In case the child is going to a school, she helps her charge with doing home work. Generally, families who engage these nannies would like them to work for minimum one year so that the child gets child care which is consistent.

Before you think taking up an assignment of working as nanny, you should ponder over the following points:

1 You should be sufficiently healthy to take up such work. The job would entail working 8-10 hours continuously with the child, may be without support of any other adult.

2 You should be quite flexible so that you could follow the family's rules.

3 You should be well organized and should have initiative so that all the tasks to be handled in the course of your work could be taken care of by you satisfactorily without neglecting the requirements of the child.

4 Taking care of a child could not always be carried out according to a plan. You should be flexible enough with your schedules to accommodate may be sudden sickness of the child.

5 You should have good communication skill so that you have no difficulty with the parents for a proper dialogue regarding your work and the child's development.

The work of a nanny is quite hard but also quite rewarding.

You should also keep in mind that many a times you would be involved with tasks which might have no relation with child care. You should be ready to carry out general housekeeping responsibilities also. Because, while employing you as nanny, the employer may not be clear in their mind about the exact duties to be carried out by you. It is better if you could get clarified about these tasks before taking up your assignment. You could make it clear to them that by carrying out these tasks you will be neglecting your primary responsibilities towards proper care of the child.

Though the work of a nanny is quite similar to that of au pairs , they are treated as a separate vocation and Au Pair agencies do not deal with them.If you are looking for opportunities for working as a nanny in London, being away from UK would not be any problem. If you search the internet, you will get reference of various agencies providing such opportunities. You may contact one of these agencies for getting an assignment.