Wealthy parents are hiring super nannies to care for them, too

TWICE a week, at around 11pm, Jeff Goldstein stretches out, turns on his spa playlist, lights a candle and gets a 90-minute massage — courtesy of his children’s nanny.

Dana Schuster

4 min read

September 18, 2018 - 11:46AM

Jeff Goldstein regularly gets massages from Lairen — the nanny who takes care of his and wife Samantha Greenes’ two kids, Jetson and Preston. Picture: Zandy Mangold

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TWICE a week, at around 11pm, Jeff Goldstein stretches out, turns on his spa playlist, lights a candle and gets a 90-minute massage — courtesy of his children’s nanny.

“At first, (I felt) a little awkward,” admitted Goldstein, 41, who has two kids and co-owns the celeb-favourite clothing boutique Blue & Cream in the Hamptons and New York’s East Village with his wife, Samantha Greenes. “But then, it was so, so good.”

Having a nanny who can teach your kid a second language doesn’t cut it anymore in New York City’s elite circles. Now there’s a fleet of super nannies who will design custom dresses for the tots, blow-dry mum’s hair on a daily basis and, yes, even massage the boss.

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Just ask Limor Weinstein, who owns a nanny-consulting business, LW Wellness, in Manhattan.

One Upper West Side family, whose kids are 4 and 7, asked her to procure a yoga-certified nanny: “They wanted to make sure everybody in the household was balanced and mindful.”

Weinstein’s search was successful, and after-school playdates at the family’s apartment now include yoga lessons.

“It’s definitely an attraction,” Weinstein said of the family’s new popularity. Once a week, when the kids are in school, the nanny travels to the father’s real-estate office for a 30-minute yoga session.

Jeff Goldstein regularly gets massages from Lairen — the nanny who takes care of his and wife Samantha Greenes' two kids, Jetson and Preston. Picture: Zandy Mangold

It might sound extravagant. But as Erin Maloney-Winder, the president of Abigail Madison, a household staffing company in Manhattan, said, “If you’re able to afford something and you treat the people well, there’s no limit” to what a nanny can do. She added that these super nannies often command $US10 ($14) more an hour than the $US20 ($28)-an-hour going rate.

Recently, Maloney-Winder secured a nanny for a CEO and mother of four who wanted her caregiver to blow dry her hair — daily — in addition to caring for the two girls’ locks, driving them to school and preparing three meals a day. (Her sons have their own nanny).

The girls’ nanny, a former beautician, not only handles all three ladies’ tresses, but does the mum’s manicures and facials, too.

“Wealthy families have a certain way of looking at things,” said Seth Norman Greenberg, vice president of the Pavillion Agency, a domestic staffing company in New York. “They realise when interviewing people that they might be able to get a lot more than what their basic needs are.”

Greenberg had one New Jersey client request a nanny who could drive an ice resurfacer because the kids had their own ice-skating rink. He filled the slot, but some demands are too great even for him.

“One time, a family lived in a remote area in the Midwest where there were bears,” said Greenberg. “They wanted a New York-savvy nanny — [but one] who knew how to use a blank gun to scare the bears. I couldn’t get anyone, unfortunately. Not a lot of New York nannies are open to that.”

While plenty of employers have wild requests, families sometimes strike gold without even realising it.

One Manhattan mum, who asked to remain anonymous for fear that someone might poach her nanny, said her child’s caregiver of five years has designed nearly a dozen custom frocks for the six-year-old.

“She turned my Lily Pulitzer skirt into a dress for my daughter, made her a Disney-themed birthday outfit and even made her — and her best friend — kindergarten graduation dresses,” said the mother.

Goldstein was similarly surprised by his nanny’s secret talent. He learned that Lairen was in school to become a certified massage therapist only after she was hired to care for his and his wife’s 4-year-old and 18-month-old children.

“She will massage my son’s toes when he has a sinus condition, to drain the sinuses,” said Goldstein. “It blows my mind.”

Meanwhile, he and Greenes take advantage of Lairen’s skills after hours. “After dinner’s done and the kids are asleep, it’s massage time,” said Goldstein, who said they tip Lairen extra for the rubdowns.

“I’m seriously considering launching a massage business: Nannies Who Massage.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post.

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