- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday May 15 2007 23.47 BST
For Mary Poppins, the ability to fly - and fly a kite - charmed the grateful Banks family. Today's affluent working parents, however, seek more than a nifty way with an umbrella when organising childcare, increasingly wanting surrogate teachers and instructors as much as carers.
According to a survey by one recruitment website, ambitious parents tied up with their own careers are looking for university-educated "supernannies" who can help their offspring with everything from learning a second language to practising the viola, while simultaneously rustling up healthy menus and tending to any medical needs.
The study by the website Gumtree.com found professional parents paying over the odds and offering expensive perks such as a car or spa membership to entice multi-talented "nanny extraordinaires" to work 12 hours a day and cater to their children's every need.
It claims 45% of parents questioned admitted they hired supernannies to "act as surrogate parent and teacher, while they get more time to spend at work and progress their career".
Must-have skills included fluency in a second language (65%), first aid and the ability to teach creative drawing and art - all cited by more parents than a professional childminding qualification. One in 10 parents sought the ability to play and teach a musical instrument. One mother wrote on Gumtree.com: "It would be a huge bonus if the applicant can play the violin and/or piano as our boys are learning both and we don't have a clue how to help with practice!"
More than 10% of the more than 850 parents surveyed across the UK pay more than £500 a week for their nanny, and the average is £305 per week. Sophy Silver of Gumtree said: "The role of nanny is being increasingly blurred between that of professional childminder and parent. We have seen a 335% increase of posts on the site relating to families searching for nannies with advanced skills since last year."
