Keeping nanny FT w/ kids in school all day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She should indeed be available to watch a few children for people who may need it few hour in the middle of the day.
She can always tell them she can't if your own children need her.

Why should she be expected to take care of any children other than OP's? you people are crazy.

[Anonymous]

Tell her you really need her for the sake of stability and your jobs. What else can she do that might be in line with her aptitude? Gardening? Organizing stuff in the house? Taking an on-line class on something related to child development?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have had our nanny for 7 years and absolutely love her. My youngest is in K this year and despite both kids being in school full days (from 8:30-3) we have kept her full time (40 hrs) because DH and I work full time and both have to leave for work by 7:30am 2 overlapping days per week (the other days at least one of us is working from home, so she comes in later).

Our nanny is incredibly flexible and is happy to run errands (grocery, dry cleaning, Target runs, etc) or do laundry for the whole family. She will tidy up the house but is not a housekeeper (not cleaning toilets or dusting or other deeper cleaning). She is also not the best cook - we have asked her to prep/make dinner in the past and it has not turned out well.

When she comes in those 2 early mornings we generally keep her busy from like 8:30 - 11:30am, but after then she really has nothing to do. We only have so many errands to run.

She recently came to us and told us we should think about moving on from her because she has nothing to do for so many hours and she feels bad getting paid full time for much less work. I think she is bored and prefers to be busy.

While we would love to pay less weekly for unused hours, I am really hesitant to walk away from full time childcare because our work schedules are not flexible and we need consistent coverage for those mornings, after school, but the plethora of school days off, summers before/after camp, etc. My friends with part time sitters regularly complain about flakiness and how frustrating it is to find sitters for part time work to begin with.

Are others with demanding jobs in this position too? How do you keep your nanny happy so they stay on full time.l? Or have you found consistent part time help that is reliable?

OP, in your situation I switched to the live-in nanny who can cook and drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had our nanny for 7 years and absolutely love her. My youngest is in K this year and despite both kids being in school full days (from 8:30-3) we have kept her full time (40 hrs) because DH and I work full time and both have to leave for work by 7:30am 2 overlapping days per week (the other days at least one of us is working from home, so she comes in later).

Our nanny is incredibly flexible and is happy to run errands (grocery, dry cleaning, Target runs, etc) or do laundry for the whole family. She will tidy up the house but is not a housekeeper (not cleaning toilets or dusting or other deeper cleaning). She is also not the best cook - we have asked her to prep/make dinner in the past and it has not turned out well.

When she comes in those 2 early mornings we generally keep her busy from like 8:30 - 11:30am, but after then she really has nothing to do. We only have so many errands to run.

She recently came to us and told us we should think about moving on from her because she has nothing to do for so many hours and she feels bad getting paid full time for much less work. I think she is bored and prefers to be busy.

While we would love to pay less weekly for unused hours, I am really hesitant to walk away from full time childcare because our work schedules are not flexible and we need consistent coverage for those mornings, after school, but the plethora of school days off, summers before/after camp, etc. My friends with part time sitters regularly complain about flakiness and how frustrating it is to find sitters for part time work to begin with.

Are others with demanding jobs in this position too? How do you keep your nanny happy so they stay on full time.l? Or have you found consistent part time help that is reliable?

OP, in your situation I switched to the live-in nanny who can cook and drive.

+1 We had our nanny for 8 years and then had to transition to an au pair in order to accommodate the split schedule- 1.5 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon (3pm-7pm), and she helps out occasionally on weekends as needed.