Aging Out as a Nanny: What Comes Next?

When Experience Meets Age Bias

Many nannies start young and spend years building experience, but the work itself is physical, long days on your feet, lifting babies, running after toddlers, and most jobs don’t come with health insurance or retirement plans. By the time you reach your fifties or sixties, it’s normal to ask yourself: Can I keep doing this, and do I want to?

Some parents look specifically for older nannies because they bring calm and warmth, while others prefer younger caregivers for the energy and stamina. Neither is right or wrong, it just means expectations differ, and it’s worth thinking about what roles fit your stage of life and what other paths are open to you.

How to Pivot Without Starting Over

That’s why at some point many of us start wondering, Is there something else out there for me? Are my skills transferable, and where would they actually be valued? It’s a natural question after years of physically demanding work, especially when most nanny jobs don’t offer benefits or long-term security. For some, the answer is shifting into roles that use their experience in new ways, for others, it’s exploring entirely different paths that still build on the same strengths.

What are the most common ways to make the change?

• Specialize: NCS, Doula, Lactation Specialist, Home Health Aide, Special Needs Caregiver
• Shift roles: Become a family assistant, household manager, or nanny placement coordinator at an agency
• Run your own business: Offer parent workshops, start a nanny agency, open a cleaning service, or run in-home babysitting or pet sitting
• Upskill: Move into education-based roles such as teacher, early childhood educator, social worker, nurse, or occupational therapist, careers that build on caregiving experience but require formal schooling.

Skills That Transfer Anywhere

Nannying doesn’t have to be a job you get stuck in, it can be an asset. A full-time weekend schedule (Friday through Monday) can provide the stable income to support yourself while using your weekdays to earn your dream degree, even if it takes longer than the traditional four years. Instead of taking on student debt, you can fund your education through this work and later step confidently into the career you’ve always wanted.

The skills and the work ethic it takes to juggle full-time nannying while earning a degree, can set you apart, showing future employers the determination behind your experience, and opening a window to a conversation about those same abilities that beautifully translate into other careers:

• Crisis management → healthcare, emergency services, operations coordination
• Organization & multitasking → project management, office administration, event planning
• Emotional regulation & communication → human resources, education, hospitality
• Time management & self-direction → remote work roles, entrepreneurship

What looks like “just nannying” on a resume is actually a portfolio of executive skills, sometimes all they need is just a new language.

Why Many Nannies Start Rethinking the Long Term

According to the Domestic Workers Chartbook 2022 there are about 2.2 million people in the U.S. working in private homes, caring for children, supporting older adults and people with disabilities, or keeping households running. These workers are overwhelmingly women (90%), more than half are Black, Hispanic, or Asian American and Pacific Islander, and they tend to be older than the average U.S. worker.

But the work comes with major challenges:

• Many nannies are paid off the books, and this underreporting lowers the average shown in surveys
• Fewer than 1 in 10 are offered any retirement plan
• Fewer than 1 in 5 receive health insurance through their job

With little safety net, and physically demanding schedules, it’s not surprising that many nannies eventually pause to ask: Can I do this long term, and do I want to?

Beyond The Statistics

Across nanny forums, the themes are consistent: many full-time professional nannies say they earn more than most entry-level roles, benefits however, are rarely built in, so most people handle retirement and health coverage themselves. Some plan to stay because of the pay, flexibility to built your schedule (weekends, weekdays, or just evenings), and that's all they ever had known. Others emphasize the physical demands and mental toll of being under constant scrutiny from parents, so they look for roles with more stability and benefits.

"I'm 56 and still working. (...) taken a 25 hour a week job (...) with my agency I am also listed as backup care and babysitting so they send me family needs and I respond if I'm available. I love the flexibility of being able to pick and choose my days but at the same time the security of having my own family."
— Reddit user, r/Nanny, August 27, 2023

"I have anxiety and depression and I’ve realized having to be happy and animated and just put on a character makes my mental health worse. (...) My only problem is that pay is good, I don’t want to lose that but I haven’t finished college."
— Reddit user, r/Nanny, September 12, 2023

Whether you stay in this field or eventually move on, it’s your choice and there are countless valid reasons behind both paths. Some people build long-term careers as nannies, while others see the role as a stepping stone toward something new. Either way, aging out of nannying isn’t inevitable or a failure. There’s no expiration date on your value. If anything, your experience only makes you more valuable.

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