Paging, Mrs. Doubtfire!
When it comes to child-rearing, NYC women are ditching the lithe Swedish au pair and hiring so-called granny nannies instead.
Figures from Care.com show that the number of baby sitters aged 55 and above applying for its jobs in 2019 has increased by a staggering 108 percent since 2008. With the musical version of the 1993 Robin Williams classic opening on Broadway next spring, it appears more families than ever are employing older women as caregivers.
According to moms, that’s due to their years of experience, authoritative air and — most important — ability to pry themselves away from their smartphones long enough to actually watch the kids they’re paid to care for.
Another perk? These ladies are less likely to turn dad’s head.
“I suppose the temptation level is not as high,” Grania Grözinger, spokesperson for the Granny Aupair agency, which specializes in matching older women with American families, tells The Post.
The firm’s granny au pairs, who receive board and lodging in lieu of pay, are admitted to the US on three-month tourist visas. Most are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with an average age of 60. The company charges them, as well as prospective families, around $200 each for a three-month membership to its site.
Grözinger says the women enjoy the “the cultural exchange” that comes with helping out with the children.
“It’s like online dating for grannies and families,” Grözinger says. “Unlike conventional au pairs, these mature ladies have their own homes, children or grandchildren. Many are married and want a three-month break away from their husbands!”
Imke Oster, 48, says it was comforting to have a “granny au pair” from her native country of Germany join her household. The Montclair, NJ, entrepreneur and performance coach recently relied on a 65-year-old widow to regularly watch daughters, Viktoria, 15, and Margret, 11.
As well as occasionally cooking hearty German food, the visitor, who flew back to Germany last month, offered a different, more practical viewpoint. “She thought to bring in our garden furniture before it started to rain — something a younger au pair would probably not think to do,” says Oster.
In addition to common sense, these women bring plenty of energy to the job, too, say moms.
Take Zipora Sadka, 71, who often plays soccer in Central Park with her 5-year-old charge, Harrel.
“I would choose my nanny over anybody younger,” says Harrel’s mom, occupational therapist Dana-Lee Wechsler, 53, of the Upper East Side.
Sadka was Wechsler’s own nanny for several years, beginning in 1968, when she was growing up in Queens and later Paramus, NJ.
But, more than nostalgia, she says she hired Sadka for her “age and experience.”
“She is always doing Lego, art projects and baking,” Wechsler says of her son’s nanny. “They don’t just sit in front of the boob tube, and Zippy is hardly ever on her phone.”
That sentiment is echoed by Manhattan businesswoman Harleen Kahlon, who hired Jennifer Gosnave to look after her 4-year-old daughter, Seva, three months ago.
The 56-year-old Gosnave immediately stood out from the other candidates — partly because, unlike younger nannies, “she doesn’t look at her phone [all the time],” says Kahlon.
“Jennifer has an amazing self-assurance and presence,” says Kahlon, 47, who has founded two tech startups. “She is genuinely interested in everything our daughter says and does. She interacts with her in the same way that Seva’s grandmother does.”
Although she says she trusts her partner 100 percent, Kahlon says she understands why some women are concerned about who they bring into their homes.
After all, Hollywood star Ben Affleck, then 42, allegedly dated his kids’ nanny in 2015 (His camp denied the affair.) It was recently reported that 35-year-old “Real Housewives of Orange County” alum Meghan King Edmonds accused her estranged husband, former baseball player Jim Edmonds, 49, of having an inappropriate relationship with their sitter before he filed for divorce.
It seems that you can’t be too careful if you hire an attractive hand that rocks the cradle.
“A friend was interviewing [potential] pickup and drop-off nannies who have flexible schedules because they are actresses,” says Kahlon. “A bunch had Facebook profiles with their [professional] head shots. My friend was texting the photos to her husband, jokingly saying, ‘No, not going to hire this one.’
“And he was laughing: ‘Aww man, not this one?’ ”