We still have our nanny despite our kids being in upper elementary school. The nanny came to us with a HS education. They are now taking a couple of college courses online during the school day. It's in our contract that the nanny will do no more than half a dozen non-child related errands/tasks each week. So it could be "receive and put away Instacart Order scheduled between 10-noon, return stack of books to the library, drop off dry-cleaning, pick up clothes ordered from Gap, etc." They are also in charge of all childrens laundry (bedding is done by the cleaning ladies), toys, books, art supplies, etc. So one day I came home and the nanny had re-sharpened all the colored pencils. Another day all the kids books were organized by subject and color.

But the nanny absolutely has down time. One time they trained our dog to do a trick. Sometimes they nap. Sometimes they're doing their own schoolwork. All of that is okay.

Sign her up for an online course she can use with the kids.

You don’t have to fill the nanny’s time. You’re paying for her availability when you need her suddenly like when your kids suddenly vomits at 8:30. Lots of jobs are like this. Nanny is on call.

I did this as a Nanny. I was not bored and I did not sit around doing nothing. I would take my dog for a hike, do things in my Condo, do errands or gave appts I used to only do on the weekends, and babysit a couple days a week too for sahms who just wanted a few hours and knew my Nanny family came first. If you can afford to keep her, keep her. Bit don’t feel like you need to keep her busy.

This is really common in UMC areas, OP.

We still pay our nanny for 40 hours/week, but I’m okay with the fact that she doesn’t work that much these days. It’s important to be really honest about what you need and see if she is happy with that. Our nanny was happy to stay with out family, but friends have had nannies who really really want to be with babies or young kids full-time, so they’ve moved into new jobs as kids went to school. That’s a totally legitimate choice.

Talk to her about what types of tasks you’d like her to take on and see if that is workable. Our nanny does laundry, light cleaning (mostly straightening up and wiping down the kitchen ), errands and grocery shopping, etc. She then picks up the kids after school and manages activities/play dates/homework. Sometimes she starts dinner or feeds the kids.

Anonymous wrote:My youngest started full day preK last September but we still have our full time nanny since DH and I work full time with pretty demanding jobs and don’t want to deal with piecing together part time sitters who are not reliable (from past experience). The trickiest piece is that 2-3 days per week our nanny comes at 7:30am to get the kids to school since DH and I are both back in the office and need to leave by 7:45am. So on those days she is basically free from 8:30am to 2pm when she picks my younger one up from school, and then my older one at 3pm. However next year they will both be in school until 3pm so it’s an even bigger chunk of time.

My nanny is truly amazing and beyond my kids loving her, she is always willing to go above and beyond and help however she is needed. We really don’t want to let her go because there are still so many times we rely on her for care on holidays, sick days, school vacations, etc.

I am curious to know from those who have kept a full time nanny well through the elementary years and maybe even beyond, what sorts of things do you have your nanny do during the day to keep them busy? I am worried that she will be too bored eventually and want to leave since it’s not fun sitting around for hours, and she lives a little too far away to go home and do her own thing. She is more than happy to cook for us (although unfortunately she isn’t the best cook so we typically keep it to prepping and chopping), she does grocery runs 1-2 times per week, will run to the post office or dry cleaner if needed as well. She is also willing to fold everyone’s laundry which is really helpful, but beyond that she is not a house cleaner (nor do we expect that front her). But that does not come close to filling her time.

I just had a conversation with friends who are in a similar situation as you with their nanny. Unfortunately they know there are many hours that the nanny doesn't do anything and they don't have things to fill the time. But they need her for all those random days when the kids are out of school.

Laundry? Organizing? Are you looking ahead to when your DC might have activities? Could she help with any of the activity-related logistics?

You are wise to want to keep her--I know of a family that followed this approach and the nanny transitioned to other tasks that suited her.

My youngest started full day preK last September but we still have our full time nanny since DH and I work full time with pretty demanding jobs and don’t want to deal with piecing together part time sitters who are not reliable (from past experience). The trickiest piece is that 2-3 days per week our nanny comes at 7:30am to get the kids to school since DH and I are both back in the office and need to leave by 7:45am. So on those days she is basically free from 8:30am to 2pm when she picks my younger one up from school, and then my older one at 3pm. However next year they will both be in school until 3pm so it’s an even bigger chunk of time.

My nanny is truly amazing and beyond my kids loving her, she is always willing to go above and beyond and help however she is needed. We really don’t want to let her go because there are still so many times we rely on her for care on holidays, sick days, school vacations, etc.

I am curious to know from those who have kept a full time nanny well through the elementary years and maybe even beyond, what sorts of things do you have your nanny do during the day to keep them busy? I am worried that she will be too bored eventually and want to leave since it’s not fun sitting around for hours, and she lives a little too far away to go home and do her own thing. She is more than happy to cook for us (although unfortunately she isn’t the best cook so we typically keep it to prepping and chopping), she does grocery runs 1-2 times per week, will run to the post office or dry cleaner if needed as well. She is also willing to fold everyone’s laundry which is really helpful, but beyond that she is not a house cleaner (nor do we expect that front her). But that does not come close to filling her time.