Need to Move on..

I have a tough problem. I have been with this family for four years. The employers and I are not close but have a very good pleasant relationship. I am very close to the two children and love them. I know they are very satisfied with me and have done many things to make sure I am happy here, but the truth is, I don't want to work as a nanny anymore. I want to go to work in my field and start accruing a 501K and I want to have coworkers and go to happy hour. As much as I know this, I know that telling the parents this is going to be very hard on the whole family. I am asking you parents and nannies what can I do to make this easier on them? What kind of notice should I give? Some have suggested I help them find a new nanny but if that does not work, I would feel responsible and more guilty? Speaking of guilt, how do you get past the guilt? It is very important to me to end things on a good note as I don't want to be completely out of the children's lives. Help.

Saying Goodbye, #1

I suggested this feature because I know a lot of nannies who have had hard goodbyes with their children. Some see it coming, others, like myself, do not.

For almost four years, I was a nanny for two children, both of whom I started with at birth. When the children were 1 and almost 4, the parents asked me to meet them at an amusement park on a Friday afternoon. This was not unusual.

We met in the front. Once we saw each other, the father asked me to return to the car with him to help him with the stroller. He even made a joke of it as we walked away from the mother and the children. Once at the car, the father told me, "Mrs. X has taken the children into the park. I have your final paycheck. We feel it's time for you to move on."

He handed me the final paycheck and asked if I needed anything from the house or car. I was floored.
He followed me to the car where I collected a few odds and ends. Tears were burning my eyes and I fought to hold them back.

Working for them was never pleasant, but I stayed because of their children. They were both absent parents who were very vain and didn't seem to have any real regard or concerns for their children, excepting that they shouldn't get fat.  The almost four year old was healthy looking, not fat, but her mother was becoming increasingly rigid about her eating and had even taken to grilling me about what I was letting her eat. I worked for them for almost four years and had only a surface relationship with the parents. They would say good morning or good evening but never asked about my life or shared anything with me except instructions or disappointments in something I had failed to do.

I never took a single sick day in all that time. I never got a raise, I never asked for a raise. I never caused them any inconvenience. I should have known that being cold people things would end like this but I was not prepared. I never got to say good bye to the children I had raised. I fed them three meals a day, got them up in the morning, tucked them in at night, even said their prayers with them.
This was 2 years ago and I still think about that day every single day. I wonder what the absence of a good bye did to those two beautiful spirits. I don't know what the parents told the children. I do hope they remember that they were very much loved by me.

*This submission has been edited at request of author as English is not her first language.
If you have a Goodbye story you would like to share with ISYN, please email isynjane@aol.com.