Interview Q & A with Annelise Lankford, owner of Twinkle Toes Nanny Agency
How did you start this?
I was actually a customer first! My husband and I were living in Orlando, and we had welcomed our first child in late 2019. I worked from home in a very demanding corporate role but could not imagine putting my infant in daycare. I didn’t want to be away from him, and I was so nervous about the germs! My husband found Twinkle Toes online, and we loved that they handled the taxes, payroll, insurance, etc. I didn’t want to have to worry about any of that stuff when I was done working, I just wanted to spend all my time with my new baby! We found an AMAZING nanny (who I still keep in contact with to this day), and she made the transition back to work so much easier. Then in March 2020, as we all know, the world shut down. Like so many other people did during COVID, we did some reevaluating and decided to move to Brevard County.
My job had gotten increasingly more demanding, we were looking to add to our family, so we started to research other opportunities that gave me a better work life balance to be present in raising our family. I had gone to school for communications, had held positions in HR, advertising, and procurement, so it seemed like a good fit for me personally – in addition to truly believing in the brand. I truly love connecting with other moms, especially first time moms. It’s gives me so much joy helping other moms add to their village to be a part of the care giving team for their babies.
What is the benefit of a nanny vs. daycare
As a parent myself, I have seen firsthand the benefits of a nanny over a daycare.
- Personalized Attention: With a nanny, it’s one child care provider to one child, in a daycare setting, Florida law only requires one child care provider to four infants, and the numbers get higher as the child gets older; for a class of 3 year olds, one child care provider can care for 15 children. A nanny provides one-on-one attention to help a child learn and grow and reach milestones in a less frustrating setting.
- Added Convenience: Your nanny will come to your home, no need for parents to get the child up, dressed, fed, teeth brushed, vitamins, etc. and be out of the door by a certain time. Your nanny can come in and take over wherever you’re at in your morning routine
making the day start a lot smoother not only for your child but for you as well.
- Adapting to the Child’s Needs: A nanny can adapt the activities for the day based off of the child. If they child is a little bit under the weather, the nanny alter the plans for the day to include more downtime, while in a daycare, they are going to be doing a group activity regardless of where your child is at that day.
- Light housekeeping: A nanny’s duties include anything related to the care of the child. This includes the children’s laundry, the children’s dishes, preparing meals for the children, tidying up toy areas, clean up from meals, etc. This saves time for you as the
parent and allows you to be present with your child after your work day rather than doing these chores. - Bonus – less germs! We all know that littles are extra susceptible to germs, and keeping them home with nanny significantly reduces their germ exposure and illness for the whole family.
What is your vetting process like
I think that vetting is the most important thing that we do at Twinkle Toes Nanny Agency. Our vetting process starts with nannies applying on our website. We review their application and make sure that their experience aligns with what we’re looking for, a minimum of two years of professional experience. We then schedule an in person interview with our candidates to understand their background, their experience, their understanding of developmental milestones, safe sleep protocol for little ones, and also a general passion for working with children. Our final checks include background checks (criminal, civil, and driving), references, the nanny’s online presence, and that the nanny is CPR certified.
Why go through an agency vs hiring on my own through Facebook or childcare search
websites?
The benefits of hiring through an agency rather than on your own through Facebook or a nanny website are vast.
- Our vetting process as I outlined above is a major one. Certain websites where you can hire a nanny only require that the candidate pass a background check, they are not required to have a minimum of experience, or an understanding of childcare.
- We are constantly interviewing candidates and weeding out anyone who does not align with our expectations. This gives us a pool of experienced and qualified nannies to match with families.
- Our matching process saves families time. We send our families two to three qualified candidates for their review to meet in person, and the vast majority of the time the family will choose one of these candidates and will not have any need for a second round of interviews. This simplifies the process for busy families and allows them to find a caregiver that molds into their family.
- Twinkle Toes holds insurance on our nannies and takes care of all billing and payroll. This simplifies the process for families so they don’t have to obtain additional insurance
for a domestic employee (unless they want to of course) and they’re not responsible for payroll or taxes.
- We offer backup nannies if your nanny becomes unavailable due to a vacation or if they wake up sick that morning. This helps busy families make sure that they’ll have the
coverage that they need when they’re in a pinch.
- We offer a nanny guarantee. If you do not love your nanny, we will help you find a new
nanny free of charge just like the first time.
Walk me through your process for how to get started
Getting started is easy, you can check out our website to schedule a free consultation with our team to understand more about the agency, how we operate, and give us an opportunity to learn a little bit about your family so we can match you with the right fit. We do not charge any upfront fees, there are no recruiting fees, placement fees, membership fees or anything like that. We’ll go over our process in further detail and answer any questions you may have about the agency.
Phone Number: 321-501-5571
Email: annelise@twinkletoesnanny.com
