Edit: sorry this one got long. So tldr: they addressed the wrong problem (Jackson their perceived problem not the channel issues/Jenn) and they got a nanny for selfish reasons, even if it’s better for Jackson in the long run.
Finally getting around to the nanny situation. I’m coming at this from the perspective of someone that was a nanny in my early 20s, a stay-at-home-mom-by-choice that also has income independent of my husband.
I totally understand not wanting to have your young unvaxed kid in daycare. I don’t. I kept my now kindergartner home from preschool and homeschooled. We also were a part of a group/covid bubble that got together for kid socializing so I never felt like she missed out on anything. We made the decision to have her attend school after they took as many precautions as possible and have had their students and staff’s a safety in mind. With that said, you can’t blame covid if you drag him around everywhere, go on trips and cruises and don’t let him play with children.
As a former nanny, I have nothing against families that choose that route. I was more a house manager, personal assistant, chauffeur, play mate, friend. I made sure there was balance between free play and activities. They paid me accordingly. Bottom line my job was to take some of the burden of running a house for 2 very successful people and create time for them as parents. They loved their kids and were wonderful and available to their kids as a result. Time with their children was number one and the whole reason for hiring me, so they could focus on their important jobs and their family. I have friends currently that have nannies. Again, it’s to open time for work and family. None ever blamed their children for their work/life balance struggles or for dropping the ball many working parents struggle to juggle. They created systems or if they had the means, they hired someone to help occasionally (maid, nanny/babysitter, etc)
I’m not seeing this as the same at all. It seems like they created time for themselves to be a child less couple considering their “job” is on a schedule they create. I’m happy that Jackson will have someone qualified to take care of him and guiding him but that’s not a substitute for parents that keep their child as priority in decision making. There was no need for Jenn to have to go with. Their channel reached its height because of Tim’s personality and his park vlogs and she was only occasionally in the videos. She was a side character. Best in small doses. Her need for attention and to escape domestic life is why she is always there now.
I get being a mom and working from home is hard. I do both. And it can feel claustrophobic and frustrating. You’re raising people that have their own minds. But I get my kids out on daily excursions, walks around the neighborhood, the park, the zoo (I’ve taken my own 3 plus other kids for friends and family on my own. I couldn’t imagine a nanny for that). They have been in activities. Tinkergarten and mom groups are lifesavers. I carved out time for myself and whatever else I need. My husband travels a lot. I manage. Not everyone is equipped to do that, fine.
But it is crazy to see 2 people flounder so much with one child and need help in the most flexible, create your own hours self employed job ever that they need help. AND THEN, the have the gall to say they want another child! Learn how to plan and schedule your life and handle the variables in your life you currently have before you add another huge variable. The next child might not be as easy going and naturally good natured as Jackson. They could get a “high spirited” child. They could get a child that needs a lot of social/emotional love. Or a child that needs lots of stimulation because they are insatiably curious. How will they accommodate that? Pass that kid off to the nanny as well?
They really need to sit back and evaluate how their “profession” fits in with family life. Don’t add a kid until you can figure out how to create a life plan, not a list of life wants that you flit from one excess to the next, depending on a nanny to provide stability. The people that pass their kids off to nannies to have them be raised are the same people that wonder why their kids love their real caretaker more than them and don’t have a good relationship with their kids when older. I can’t see this working out for them. They focused on fixing their “Jackson problem” rather than their “channel/Jenn problem”. Until they see the real root cause, it won’t go well for them.
