Reply to Making it work when the wife is the one with the "big job"

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Reply to "Making it work when the wife is the one with the "big job" - s/o today's NY Times article"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Are household managers even a thing? Like, are there people who have such job?[/quote]

I am a nanny/household manager.  My charges are 4 and 3 and their parents are a typical 2-career DC power couple type.  I manage all the paperwork for the children’s preschool/medical/summer camp/tutors/sports and so on.  I trim their nails, take them to get haircuts and make sure we always have toothpaste.  I research, vet, hire and schedule weekend sitters.  I do all shopping, meal-planning and cooking for the family most weeks (including pre-portioning things for Boss’s diet plan and packing salads for Other Boss’s lunch).  I manage the weekly cleaners and gardeners.  I run all the little errands like dry-cleaning.  I wait on the phone with customer service.  I schedule home repairs with our handyman or call the plumber.  In the last month I booked a storage unit, hired/supervised a packing service and hired/supervised movers when they decided to sell a vacation home.  I also booked flights, hotel rooms and car service for upcoming travel and I will be in charge of packing the children’s bags, hiring a dogwalker while we are gone and managing the children during the entire trips, days and nights.  The month before that, I ran a fundraising project at the preschool and updated the children’s wardrobes for spring.  [/quote]

Our nanny does this...she also organizes closets and drawers, ensures DC’s have appropriate clothing, monitors the school calendars for things like spirit and cultural day, keeps a family calendar, arranges play dates, researches summer camps/tutors/sports, etc, makes routine doctor/dentist appointments and takes DCS supervised homework, buys the majority of gifts and wraps them. I have no need to manage.  She does most without any discussion or a simple text.  I get home from work, I eat with my family and relax.[/quote]

Serious question. Someone with the energy and executive functioning skills to do all of that (plus be an emotionally astute caregiver to kids!) seems like THEY could be an executive with a big job. How much do you have to pay a top-notch nanny like that, and why don't they work in other fields?[/quote]

I am the nanny/household manager upthread.  In my current job I make about $75,000 a year.  I work 60-70 hours per week most weeks, but I am on call Mondays at 7am until Friday night (I am paid a weekly retainer for overnight hours since both bosses have last-minute work travel or evening events).  I probably could have done something different but I love my job.  I love kids in general and my charges in particular.  I enjoy having a close and friendly relationship with my bosses.  I genuinely enjoy a lot of my daily tasks (cooking, dishes, laundry are all meditative and I can listen to podcasts or audiobooks while I work).  I am fascinated by child development and regularly read up on new developments in the field or approaches to discipline/education and most childcare and teaching is painfully underpaid so nannying is actually a step up for someone who wants to work with very young children.  I also love getting to travel with the family (even though I am on the clock).  I love that I can wear yoga pants and sneakers to work.  I love that if it snows I get to go sledding and if it is a beautiful sunny warm day I can spent it outside.  I love holidays and planning halloween costumes and easter baskets.  I love that I can sing and dance all afternoon if I feel like it.  I like painting and coloring and playdough.  Even the tedious stuff like waiting on hold with the cable company I don’t mind because I think of it as giving my employers the gift of time together with their kids so it is actually meaningful vs dridgery. I just truly love my job and my life with a passion.[/quote]

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