No housework, just childcare: Meet Audrey, the travelling nanny

“I did not just want to be the traditional stay-at-home nanny,” she says. “I wanted to attend to many families, which meant moving from one location to another.”

In a single week, Audrey can be in Kakamega, Busia, then Mombasa, then back in Nairobi. She also takes calls from international clients who are visiting Kenya and need someone they can trust with their children at a hotel while they explore the city. 

Audrey's enthusiasm for the job is evident when she describes her typical day at work. So how did she get to become a travelling nanny?

In 2022, Audrey was working as an operations assistant at a company in Westlands. It was a remote job that allowed her to have a side job. In the evenings, she babysat for two families, the first one from Monday to Thursday, and the second family from Friday to Sunday. At night, when the children were asleep, Audrey would switch on her laptop and work the graveyard shift for her corporate employer. 

Then the company shut down in 2023, and coincidentally, the two families moved out of the country. 

“Before finding another job, what am I doing in the meantime?” she recalls thinking. “I just shifted to the nanny work full-time to make ends meet.”

However, Audrey did not want to be just any nanny. She had studied the market carefully enough to know that it was crowded. She had no interest in becoming one more name on a list. She wanted to fill a gap that would give her some sort of competitive edge.

Read: Unwritten rules that keep Kenyan homes running seamlessly

“The gap that I was trying to fill was these parents who do not want a live-in nanny. Just someone to mind the children when they attended to other things. I was also looking at parents who need a temporary reliever, maybe when the live-in nanny travels home for a week, or if the family is going on vacation or church and needs help with the children.”

So Audrey became a short-term childcare provider. She took bookings for a few hours, a full day, an overnight stay, or an entire weekend. Then the clientele expanded, and she began getting bookings from event planners.

“Wedding planners book me to keep the children occupied as the adults follow the event. I am given a dedicated space, and I come with my own toys and stationery. I let the children touch grass, arrange blocks, and chase bubbles while the event unfolds. Children cannot sit at a wedding function. It is too stimulating for them,” she says plainly. 

What sets Audrey apart, perhaps more than anything else, is what she carries when she walks through a client's door: Blocks in five different varieties, Lego sets matched to the age of the child, balls, bubbles, balloons, board games, Scrabble, chess, snakes and ladders.  She has all kinds of activities, from singing games to quizzes. And she does not turn on the television.

“I know it can sound controversial, but I think just being out there, playing with toys, gives the child better development than watching TV.”

Audrey takes time to build a bond with the child she is minding through play.

“I immerse myself in the child's world.  When parents see what I bring along with me, they sort of relax, and some can already tell that we will have a great time with the children.”

With a two-year-old, Audrey might stack tumblers and celebrate the collapse. With an eight-year-old, she designs colour-recognition games using hidden balls and a search-and-find challenge.

Besides play, Audrey, is trained in first aid and can respond effectively when the need arises. She is currently studying child psychology as a way to build capacity for her job. 

What does a typical day look like for Audrey?

“I wake up every morning before a booking, pray, work out, and eat breakfast. The workout is intentional. When I work out, I have so much energy. In the evenings, I shower, play loud music, eat dinner, and write down how the day went—what toys worked, what challenges came up, and what I would do differently.”

Two years down the line, Audrey says she has embraced the freelance career and doesn’t see herself going back to employment. 

Charges per child

“I like how it pushes me. A week can pass without a single booking, even two weeks. Then, in the third week, I get bookings worth Sh60,000. It keeps me on my toes.”

Audrey charges per child, with the rate adjusting based on how many children a parent has and the duration of the service. For local families in Kenya, she charges Sh3,000 for one child, with an extra Sh500 added for each additional child per day. This is a flat rate, whether she works day or night shift.

From every booking, she pays herself, sets money aside for toys, and budgets for branding expenses, including the branded T-shirts that are her official wear.

Toys, she admits, are not cheap. The cheapest Lego she has ever purchased cost around Sh3,000. “More advanced sets for older children can run as high as Sh8,000. It is an investment I make consistently because arriving empty-handed is simply not how I operate.”

Audrey's contract outlines her name, the parents' name, the child's name, the location, the date, the hours, the scope of services, and her payment terms. Any hour that a parent runs past the agreed return time costs an additional Sh500.

Read: Do you have a contract with your nanny?

“It makes clients really respect my time,” she says. If you do not have those rules, people will really use you; that is what happens for most nannies. I do not like being used.”

Audrey’s clients find her mostly through referrals, TikTok and Instagram, where she posts videos of her work. “I think there is a vibe that I give,” she says, laughing a little. “I honestly do not know which vibe. But parents feel it.”

The travel side of her work has seen her visit places such as Zanzibar and have experiences that feel nothing like work.  

“When I travel with a family, they include me in everything, and that is fun. I love playing, so it is always a good time,” she says. 

She makes it a point to connect and market her growing brand.

“One family in Kenya has booked me several times, not out of habit, but out of genuine friendship we built on trust and the kind of care that is hard to forget.” 

The flexibility she has built for herself is something she values deeply. She creates her own hours, takes the bookings she wants, and if she decides to take a week off, nobody needs to approve it. In April, she went to Mombasa for a vacation, “the first real break I gave myself after a December that was so busy that I barely rested.”

Audrey’s peak season falls in May, June, and July, a phenomenon she finds puzzling because she thought school holidays would be her busiest seasons.
“I have many clients booking me during these months, especially to mind babies and toddlers who haven’t started school.”

Audrey aspires to grow her brand into a company that will train nannies and provide exceptional childcare services across Kenya and beyond. She envisions partnerships with travel companies and event managers, so that any parent working with a travel agency can seamlessly add a qualified nanny to their booking.

“I won’t do house-calls, but I will have trained nannies, travelling nannies, offering these services to the client. And I will be the one directing operations, handling accounts, making sure the brand grows.”

Audrey is also on a mission to change the perception of nannies as uneducated, untrained, and undervalued. 

“I want the people I train to be seen as professionals. I want clients to value them and respect them the way they respect me. That is my dream.”

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