Should we switch to a live-in nanny?

[Anonymous]

Live-in nanny here.

A basement with her bedroom and bathroom is the minimum. Yes, please have your husband move his sports watching upstairs, the living room is now hers.

Use the home gym during her work hours or while she’s using the kitchen.

No kids in the playroom on weekends until she’s awake, but any nanny who has lived in before knows that kids run everywhere in the morning on weekend mornings, so there’s no sleeping in.

Free access to the kitchen except the 30 minutes before you start cooking. You need to be consistent about cooking ties or text her if you flex times. Mini fridge and microwave on a table in the basement living room.

Reasonable additions to the grocery list and free access to anything you purchase (if you need a certain amount for a meal, put a sticky note on it or buy extra).

The basement should have a door at the top of the steps and a separate egress. Her bedroom should have two legal exits (the door is one).

If you want the nanny to effectively quarantine, you need to help at her to stay home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will hate having a live-in, OP. I am an introvert and it would drive me nuts to have another adult other than my spouse and kids in my house in the evening and weekends. You never get a break from each other. Many nannies also have need their privacy and downtime away from the sights and sounds of their workplace (your home).

Disagree. I was very happy as a live-in professional nanny as long as I had a private bathroom, and my pay was fair. No discounts for living in. I appreciated not having to drive to work every day. I did, however, go back to my condominium on the weekends.

Key is finding the right introverted nanny. It can definitely be a win-win.

That would not work for OP. She needs the nanny to live there the whole week. I think having the expectation that the nanny ive the whole week in the basement would be claustrophobic. Even introverts need to have natural light and a window to look out of in their living quarters.

Right?! “Can we hire someone to live in our basement only to watch our kids and we can venture into to basement at any time for use of the playroom or the gym but just to be clear, she can’t leave the basement on weekends. Also I don’t want her in our upstairs space. Or to have any friends because Covid.”

[Anonymous]

Older professional nanny here- I’m sorry OP but this doesn’t sound like it would work for someone like myself. Maybe an aupair, but I don’t know any nannies who want to live in their employers basements without a kitchen, and be woken up at 8am on a Sunday because the kids are playing in their playroom- right outside her door. I also wouldn’t want to hear your treadmill or the packers game in the evening. Sorry.