"I Refuse to Break His Little Heart": Nanny Has Smooth Response to a Child Asking What Her Job Is

Being a nanny is no easy feat. They have to deal with taking care of the kids and the household. They also get flooded with impossible questions, such as “Where do babies come from?” and “Is Santa Claus real?”

One nanny knows this difficult scenario all too well. She was asked the one question she had been dreading from the child she cared for: "What do you do for work?"

Rather than break his heart by admitting that she gets paid by his parents, her smooth response bought her some time.

“So the day I hoped would never come has arrived,” TikTok user Janna (@shortnfeisty11) began her viral TikTok video.

“The kid that I nanny asked me what I do for work today,” she says as she walks down a street and makes an uncomfortable face.

“He was like, ‘Jenna, you’re an adult and mommy’s an adult and daddy’s an adult, and mommy and daddy go to work,'” Jenna impersonated the little kid. “'So, when do you go to work?'”

She didn’t want him to feel like hanging out with him was nothing more than a financial obligation.

She came through that conversation unscathed with her clever response. “On the weekends,” she said, in response to when she goes to work.

The kid was appeased. “Oh, that makes sense,” he replied.

“I love him so much I refuse to break his little heart like that,” she captioned the video that has been viewed more than 3.8 million times.

In the video, Jenna explained that the boy tells her constantly that they are best friends. “I do not have the heart to tell him that I get paid to hang out with him,” she concluded.

Reactions in the comments were mixed. While some were all for her smooth response, others believed that being honest was the more appropriate route.

“It’s cute, but also, is it really that bad to teach a boy (future man) that caretaking is labor worthy of pay?” a user asked.

"I’m not a big fan of lying a lot — so I tell them, it’s an important job that allows me to be friends with you and keep you safe," another shared.

A third brought up the possibility of the child learning the truth one day. "Oooof, great save but def consider the possibility of him finding out from someone else," they wrote. "My girl was 4 when her dad told her she could only see me if she had money to pay me."

Others saw a different perspective and supported Jenna’s quick thinking to save the child from hurt feelings.

"'On the weekends' is so smooth tho, you saved that," this user wrote.

Other nannies shared how they’ve handled this difficult question.

"The day my kids realized I was paid to hang with them, they cried until I explained that I tricked their parents to pay me to play with my bffs instead of having a boring job," another shared.

A third shared what happened after the child realized that nannies get paid. "The kid I babysat realized it involved money and secretly took me aside to beg me to not take the money since her parents fought about cash so much," they explained.