It’s noon. After countless foul diaper changes, you are now cleaning up the mess from today’s snack, “ants on a log,” with a crying baby in your arm. While scouring the carpet for slobbery, peanut-buttery raisin morsels, you find yourself thinking about the final you have tomorrow morning.

The thought is interrupted by the all too familiar, deafening screeches of a toddler belting out a rendition of “The Song That Never Ends” while defacing the living room wall with a red Crayola in hand. Admit it, this is the nightmare that comes to mind for most of us when we combine the stress-encompassing words: student and nanny.

However, the sentiment among some of Sacramento State’s student nannies seems to be quite the contrary.

Newbie-nanny Megan Browder revealed the life of a student-nanny is a lot less stressful than popular belief.

“I was hesitant at first about getting into the nanny thing because it’s given such a bad rap, but I’ve been a nanny for a couple months now and I love it,” said Browder, a sophomore nutrition and food major. “I already feel a part of the family.”

Browder, who has worked mostly in retail and clerical positions, found the transition to working as an in-home nanny to be smooth and virtually stress-free; admitting it doesn’t even feel like work sometimes.

“Somehow all the stress of school, and everything that I have to do, just kind of goes away and I don’t think about it while I’m with the kids,” Browder said. “Whereas with other jobs, it’s all still there and building.”

The highlight of her experience as a nanny thus far, the moment Browder said she will never forget, was the first time the 2-year-old she takes care of told her he loved her.

“I took him to ride the carousel at the mall, and then dropped him off at home,” Browder said. “As I was getting ready to go home, he got so upset that he started tossing his toys at me. He wouldn’t answer me when I asked him what was wrong.

“But right before I left the room, he looked at me with tear-filled eyes and in this really fussy voice he said, ‘I love you.'”

Being a student nanny isn’t for everyone.

“In order to be a student nanny, you have to be really responsible and dependable,” Browder said. “Not only are you solely responsible for the care and safety of other people’s children, but you can’t just call in sick, or have someone cover a shift.”

For college students interested in a position as a nanny, commitment and stability are key.

For more than three years, nanny jobs have put Devon Buckley through school. The senior business management major and veteran student-nanny agreed the job’s play-time benefits are big-time stress relievers for even the most frazzled students.

“What college student do you know, gets paid to sit and color with little kids and completely escape the adult world?” Buckley teasingly said.

Buckley was explicit in her warning about juniors and seniors falling into the “nanny rut,” a term she coined describing the point where the job becomes more of a comfort zone than a benefit to a future career.

“It’s best to look into being a nanny within the freshmen and sophomore years,” Buckley said. “Once you get stuck in the nanny rut and don’t plan on going into child care, it can really put you at a disadvantage when you’re ready to enter the job market.”

Mia Masters has considered working as a nanny because of the work experience relevant to her aspirations of owning her own pre-school and day care.

“I think it would be really interesting to spend time with children in the comfort of their own home and get to have an impact on how they interact in the outside world,” Masters, a junior child development major, said. “It would offer me the best of both worlds.”

Buckley shared some of the ground rules she uses to maintain a healthy balance between work and school. It is important to declare at least two “no call” days per week for schoolwork and to also request a two month notice for requesting additional shifts that may interfere with school.

Marcela Castro, a senior health science major, looks after twin infants. She said she finds plenty of time for schoolwork while the babies rest at nap-time.

“My schedule is very flexible with working around school,” Castro said. “I have weekends off. I can usually get some homework done at work, plus the work environment is really low-stress, relaxing and fun.”

Castro has worked with the infants since they were two weeks old and now, more than five months later, she had nothing but good things to say about her job. Castro said the best part is watching their development and being able to catch all of their “firsts.”

This kind of perfect match cannot be entirely attributed to the forces of fate.

Susan O’Hara, a new mother of twins, decided to seek the help of a nanny in early October and found Castro to be a perfect fit.

“We were looking for someone young, with a lot of energy; someone very warm, who would connect with our girls, without becoming flustered easily,” O’Hara, an assistant professor of teacher education, said. “All of these things were apparent when meeting Marcela for the first time.”

Castro was O’Hara and her husband’s first of 11 interviews. The new parents considered themselves lucky to have had such a smooth hiring process for their nanny who they say has been, “absolutely wonderful.”

This match made in heaven can actually be attributed to modern technology. Both Castro and O’Hara entered their information into an online nanny agency called “A Nanny on the Net.” The agency works with families and nannies internationally, setting applicants up with compatible matches.

“The application asked really direct questions and was so easy to fill out,” Castro said. “Within a few days I was already receiving calls about positions.”

According to Annie McInnis, the Sacramento Region Director for “A Nanny on the Net,” the majority of nanny applicants are college-aged, between 18 to 26 years old. She credited the job’s popularity among the college crowd to its flexibility. There are certain qualifications to go through the agency.

“Nanny applicants are required to have a least three years of childcare experience and to become certified in CPR and first-aid,” McInnis said.

Browder, Buckley and Castro all agreed that the good pay, flexible hours and stress relief they enjoy as student-nannies far surpasses the fringe benefits of most other college jobs.

It turns out that being a student-nanny isn’t a nightmare after all.

For more information on how to find a nanny in your area, check out the official Web site.

Elaine Welteroth can be reached at [email protected]