Welcome to The Wrangler Journal
- Kristin Montoya
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Welcome to The Wrangler Journal
One of the first things that people ask when they meet you for the first time is, “What do you do for work?” Which is a fair question. So when I respond and say, “I’m a nanny,” I wait for the awkward pause, then the, “Oh, I didn’t realize that is a real job!” or my favorite, “Oh, is it just an in-between job until you find something real?”
I admit nannying isn’t a typical 9–5 most people think of. And honestly, if I think back to when I was younger, being a nanny wasn’t exactly on my dream board for a job when I grew up. Nannying is something that is riddled by stereotypes, some of them bad and then some expecting me to be exactly like Mary Poppins (spoiler alert: I’m not.)
Nannying can be a lot of things, but for me it is possibly one of the best and most rewarding things I’ve done with my life so far.
I know that sounds cliché, and honestly it’s just one of those things that you only know if you know. I didn’t start off wanting to be a career nanny or even knowing what that was exactly. Honestly, when I first started I didn’t know what the heck I was even doing.
It started when I was in college as a way to have a part-time job, make a little bit of money, while being able to focus on my classes. I’d always been a natural with children, so it seemed like an easy enough job at the time. The longer I was a nanny and the longer I was in school, the less I wanted to stay in school and the more I just wanted to nanny full time.
But gasp... what would everyone think!
As I had been told numerous times by that point, nannying wasn’t even a real job. That having a degree was the only way I would amount to anything in my life. The more I tried to force school, the more I didn’t want to be there. Because while nannying came naturally to me, school did not.
College just felt like this piece to a puzzle that did not belong to me.
The more I forced it, the more I absolutely hated it. But me being me, I don’t fail at things and I don’t give up.
In reality, I did fail at it.
Miserably.
That failure put things into perspective for me. (Once I got over how much of a loser I felt like anyway.) But it made me think of so many different things like, why am I trying so hard at something I hate? Why was I trying to please these people in my life with a degree when I was already so happy being a nanny?
So I did one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
I gave up.
Yup, you heard me, I gave up.
By this point I had been with an absolutely amazing family for almost five years with three children I treasure and love endlessly. They had become such a big part of my life that it was hard to remember what life looked like before them. As much as I watched them grow into their own little personalities, they were unknowingly helping me grow into mine.
I was there for scraped knees, lost teeth, and milestones big and small. At the same time, they were there through some of the biggest moments of my own life, whether they realized it or not. They gave me purpose on days when I questioned myself and reminded me that showing up matters more than having everything figured out.
Something that was always important to me was teaching them that it's okay to take risks. It's okay to be unapologetically yourself. It's okay to fail. But what matters is what you do next.
You're allowed to sit there and have a cry, but afterwards you dry those tears and you cowboy up. You figure out what you can learn from it, and keep moving forward.
With that being said, I cowboyed up.
I knew I needed a fresh start. As much as I love New Mexico, I felt like I was carrying around everyone else's expectations of what my life was supposed to look like. Somewhere along the way, I stopped asking myself what I wanted.
So I did one of the hardest things I've ever done. I packed up my life, said goodbye to my family and also the family that had become my second home, and moved to Texas. I wasn't completely brave, though. My older brother was already living here, and I knew I wouldn't have had the courage to do it without knowing I had family waiting for me.
Even then, it wasn't easy. There were so many days during that first year that I was one phone call away from asking my mom to bring me home.
But somewhere between the homesickness, learning a new city, and starting over, something changed. I've been in Texas for a little over a year now, and I can honestly say this move gave me exactly what I needed. I've grown more in this past year than I ever expected, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm building a life that's truly mine.
This journal is where all of those stories will live. Some will be about nannying. Some will be about building Little Wrangler Nannies from the ground up. Some will be practical resources for parents. Others might simply be funny moments that remind us why this work matters.
My hope is that whether you're a parent, a fellow nanny, or just someone curious about this profession, you'll find something here that makes you feel a little more understood.
A year ago I packed up my life and drove to Texas with no idea what the future would look like.
Today I'm still a nanny.
I'm also building Little Wrangler Nannies.
And if there's one thing this journey has taught me so far, it's that sometimes the life you're meant to live doesn't look anything like the one you planned.
And that's okay.
Welcome to The Wrangler Journal.
Until next time, Kristin 🩷
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