light housekeeping

[Anonymous]

What are you looking for if you hire a nanny who advertises light housekeeping?

I will certainly ask anyone I am hoping to hire, so that we are on the same page, but when choosing who to contact it would be useful to know.

(There is an older discussion about this on the nanny forum but, not trying to stir up anyone's ire here, it seems to be answered mostly by nannies who are annoyed they were asked to do light housekeeping. I am curious about those who offer to do it, knowing they will get paid more for it.)

[Anonymous]

ny nanny vaccums the family room(where the baby plays most of the time). Washes any dishes I haven't been able to get to and sweeps the kitchen. That's it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ny nanny vaccums the family room(where the baby plays most of the time). Washes any dishes I haven't been able to get to and sweeps the kitchen. That's it.

And did you discuss this as "light housekeeping" in advance?

[Anonymous]

As the definition of "light housekeeping" can vary from person to person, I would enter the interview process with a clear definition, either offering you r own or asking what light housekeeping duties they will do and how often. Put this in the contract so that there are no misunderstanding of duties later on. The problems arise when there are differing expectations that are not clarified until it is too late. FWIW, childcare without light housekeeping should include cleaning up after baby (toys, food, dishes, laundry, sweeping/vacuuming play area and baby's room), with an understranding the parents will leave the house in the morning in the same way they expect to find it in the evening (i.e. nanny is not responsible for cleaning up previous evening's mess). For me, the addition of light housekeeping would include the above plus keeping kitchen floors and counters clean (but no heavy cleaning of previous night's pots and pans, etc.), dusting the living room once per week, one or two loads of laundry per week, and depending on the size of the house perhaps some vacuuming of other rooms. No bathroom/kitchen scrubbing or other heavy duty cleaning.

Again, as each person would define it differently, the important thing is to reach mutual understanding from the start of what is expected. That way, if you are asking for more or different chores, then you can either reach a compromise or move on to find a more compatible employer-employee relationship.