I’m a 22-year-old nanny working for a family in the Hamptons during the pandemic. Here’s what my experience has been like.

• Live-in nannies are considered essential workers, so they’ve been continuing to work since the coronavirus outbreak, staying with other families instead of their own.
• One nanny employed by a family residing in the Hamptons, New York, told Insider about her experience working for them since the pandemic hit the US in mid-March.
• She said she felt like she had no option other than to take the job because she was out of work, though the family has since let her go, leaving her unemployed and unsure of what her future holds.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

In this As Told To, Insider’s series of edited conversations about unique experiences, Samantha Grindell talks to a 22-year-old nanny employed by a New York-based family currently residing in the Hamptons – like many wealthy New York families are – about her experience working during the pandemic. She asked to remain anonymous in order to speak frankly.

Childcare workers are considered “essential service workers.” They are continuing to do their jobs, which means separating themselves from their loved ones in order to keep other families’ day-to-day lives running smoothly.

This conversation has been edited for clarity.

This is actually my first time working as a nanny.

I also work at Anthropologie and I’m a dog walker, but I can’t do either of those jobs right now as a result of the pandemic, so this nanny position was basically my only source of income.

The family lives in Manhattan. They both work in finance, and their kids are 2 and 5 years old.

I’ve been their normal date-night sitter for the past two years, and they have a full-time nanny. However, she has a child and was not available to live with them at their home in the Hamptons, so they asked me if I was interested.

I didn’t really want to do it, but I was feeling very stuck and had no source of income. I felt like I had to take the job.

They needed someone almost immediately, so they paid for me to rent a car.

I was in Pennsylvania with my family at the time, but I rented a car on Wednesday, March 18, and drove all the way up to the city to pack up my things before driving to their home in the Hamptons.

It was actually a really tough decision. I have a cat and I couldn’t really bring him with me. I had to make sure my roommates were going to stick around in the city so that he was taken care of.

It’s really hard for me to be away from him because he’s my emotional support animal. I’ve been away from him for almost two months now, and it’s very, very challenging.

I’ve never been a live-in nanny, and to just pack your stuff and move in with a family to be their help feels very weird

You feel uncomfortable. I think if they weren’t nice people and they treated me like the help, I wouldn’t have made it this long because I don’t work well in those types of situations.

But they’re a very nice family, and I definitely don’t regret it at all.

My typical schedule is Monday through Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., sometimes later.

I don’t really work on the weekends. They just need someone to watch the children when they’re working during the week because they’re always on calls.

On a typical workday, I help with breakfast and the kids’ online classes. They are in a lot of programs, so they have music classes and drama and movement classes. We sit down and do those together.

The family lives in a really nice part of the Hamptons located out in the woods, meaning we can go on nature walks and things like that. They have an outdoor deck and pool, too.

I help with the kids’ laundry, and I obviously do dishes and clean up after myself and the kids, but I’m not doing any hard-core housekeeping work.

The parents help out with the kids, so it’s not like I’m the only one taking care of them. They’re very hands-on as well.

They are normally hiding out in their offices during the day, but they’ll come to hang out or make the kids lunch.

I never feel like they’re spying on me or don’t trust me. I’m really good with the kids, and they know that.

I also thought it was going to be really hard with the parents around because kids can act very differently when they know they’re home, but it actually ended up being very easy. Maybe the kids will occasionally get upset when they’re told they need to leave them be during the day, but it’s been pretty fine with the parents working from home.

We have done a lot of moving around during the pandemic, which has been stressful

They had a Hamptons house, which we were at for maybe a month. But then they wanted some of their stuff in the city.

We went back to their New York City apartment for a bit before moving back out to another house that they have in the Hamptons.

It’s a lot of packing and unpacking and readjusting to a new house, and this one’s really big.

We were only in the city for around five days, but it was definitely not my favorite, just because it’s not as spacious. I didn’t have my own room. Instead, I had to share a room with one child, and it just felt very cramped.

The family bought me a mask, and we would all wear them to go outside in the city.

But it’s different in the Hamptons. It’s very open. There’s no one around. There’s no other house around. We’re just freely going on walks without masks. We don’t go grocery shopping that much. We don’t really leave the property at all.

They let me know yesterday that this is my last week working as their nanny

Their full-time nanny figured out her childcare situation, which means she’s able to come out to the Hamptons now.

It was kind of scary being given a week’s notice. I’ll be heading back to the city and have to figure out the whole unemployment situation. I was a little upset, but they loved their previous nanny.

They’ve been paying us both because they’ve had that nanny for years, which I’m sure is a lot of money for them. It’s not like they don’t like me or anything, they just don’t need me anymore. It was an emergency.

I haven’t heard anything from unemployment either, and have not received a stimulus check, which is making me very nervous. Hopefully some money will start coming through considering I don’t have an income after this week. It’s definitely an added stress weighing on my mind.

I signed up with another nanny agency and have contacted them today to see if there’s anything available. I’ve already heard that most families are moving out to their weekend houses in the Hamptons, so any position would most likely involve moving in with another family, and it would be very hard.

That would be a huge adjustment, especially not knowing them at all. I already knew this family, and it was hard enough.

I also just don’t see working as a nanny in the city right now as a possibility at all. People’s nannies are living with them in their New York City apartments, and I would not want to do that because as big as some New York City apartments are, they’re not that big.

The opportunity to be a nanny for this family saved me financially, but it was also an adjustment being ripped out of my environment and placed into theirs

It’s all very new to me. There’s a huge emotional and mental strain because we’re going through a pandemic. I’m worried about my friends and my family, and I can’t see them. I’m away from my cat and my roommates, and I have to make sure that they’re taking care of the apartment and paying their bills.

All of that is on top of making sure these people’s kids are OK, which is my top priority. But I would just want for them to be patient and understanding that we have all of this other stuff going on in the world that’s also weighing on our minds.

I think it was a huge learning experience for me and the parents, and even for the kids. This is something that kids haven’t gone through. It’s crazy for them. They ask a lot of questions.

The family really saved me. I think I would have been in a lot of trouble financially if I wasn’t given this opportunity, so I’ve told them I’m very grateful to them.