Should I Use a Nanny Camera?

Your child is the most precious thing to you. I know from personal experience how hard it is to leave them behind with someone you don’t know well – a babysitter or nanny. You can check in frequently, you can even video chat with your child but the thing that might bring you the most peace of mind is a nanny camera. But should you use one?

Do You Tell Your Sitter?

Lots of people don’t hesitate to put a camera outside their house but hesitate to put one INSIDE their house. If you do put one in your house, you might struggle if you should tell your sitter. If they know, they will be on their best behavior and that is what you want, right? If they don’t know though, you get to truly see their character and how they interact with your children. It will depend on if you think they have the right to know they are being recorded. 

Privacy Concerns

Are you even able to put a nanny camera in your home? It is legal to put a nanny camera in your home, but it’s not okay to put it in a place where people expect some privacy – like the bathroom or the bedroom. It’s not legal in all states to record speech though so if your camera does record speech, you will have to give your sitter or nanny a heads up that you are recording. It’s good courtesy to let them know too.

What Kind Do You Get?

There are now so many cameras that you can get for your house. You can go the way of having something obvious so people know they are being recorded or you can get something that is meant to blend in – like an alarm clock or even a fake smoke detector! Prices can range from inexpensive to the very expensive but you’ll of course want to get something that allows you to monitor through your phone on an app. 

Thing Carefully Before Installing 

Sure, installing a nanny cam will bring you some peace of mind but it can also drive you crazy. You might be checking it non-stop instead of working or enjoying a date night. No one is perfect (I know I’m not a perfect mother) and no babysitter is going to be perfect either. When installing a nanny cam, you might be ensuring that you never find a babysitter again because you’ll be looking for that perfect babysitter!

Would you ever install a nanny camera in your house? Would you let it be known or keep it hidden?