We have a nanny. If you think you can WFH and be productive while caring for a child, think again.

I work from home. When I went back to work I had a nanny share hosted by another family in the neighborhood. I would bring my son over there every morning. (2 blocks away) It was a perfect setup. I would work all day at my house and them pick him up in the afternoon. The nanny share broke up because the other family sent their child to preschool. This year we hosted the nannyshare.

I work in my home office which is in our finished attic. The kids are two and three floors down on the main floor and in our finished basement. I immediately head out to walk our dogs when the nanny arrives. I come home and head straight to my office. I try hard to wait until my son goes down for his nap before I go get my lunch. I can't always wait but when he sees me and asks me to play I tell him that I can't play right now because I'm working. I grab my lunch and head straight back to my office. I come down at the designated time and my nanny goes home. She takes the kids out most days for some activity. She tells me where they are going and I make sure my son has what he needs. e.g swimsuit, sunscreen etc.

I hear crying and fussing but I let my nanny handle it. When she is working, it isn't my problem. When I need an extra hour, I ask in advance if she can stay and I pay her overtime. I make sure my house is comfortable. I make sure to get the payroll done every week. so that she gets paid on time.

I understand why some nannies wouldn't want to work for us parents that work at home but I would reserve judgement and keep an open mind if the job seems good otherwise and you like the family.

Anonymous wrote:Be completely upfront if you hire a nanny about you working from home. And for the love of whatever god, do not interfere with the nanny during the day when she is with your child!! And KEEP YOUR DOOR LOCKED!!! I worked at my last nanny job where both parents worked from home and I wasn’t told ever!! My only informed me she worked from home and I show up the first day and ask where dad works and they told me he also worked from home. MB always kept her door open and the kids would go in and bother and wouldn’t want to leave...or they would interfere when the child wasn’t listening to me and undermine me. So many problems.

Also, figure out a schedule. Let’s say you need 8 hours of work to complete your task and your nanny’s schedule is 9-5. Please stick to it!! My MB asked me to work from 8-5 yet would wake up until 11/12 everyday and get started on work and wouldn’t finish by 5...and asked me to stay late EVERYDAY. at the last minute. The kids were 4 yo and 6 months and baby always kept her up at night. But sorry lady, some people aren’t fortunate enough to work from home and sleep in until noon everyday.

Dear lord. What a nightmare. I would have given my notice within one week. No amount of money could make me work for such family.

PT nanny

Daycare, just as when I worked in the office.

Full time nanny.

Anonymous wrote:Be completely upfront if you hire a nanny about you working from home. And for the love of whatever god, do not interfere with the nanny during the day when she is with your child!! And KEEP YOUR DOOR LOCKED!!! I worked at my last nanny job where both parents worked from home and I wasn’t told ever!! My only informed me she worked from home and I show up the first day and ask where dad works and they told me he also worked from home. MB always kept her door open and the kids would go in and bother and wouldn’t want to leave...or they would interfere when the child wasn’t listening to me and undermine me. So many problems.

Also, figure out a schedule. Let’s say you need 8 hours of work to complete your task and your nanny’s schedule is 9-5. Please stick to it!! My MB asked me to work from 8-5 yet would wake up until 11/12 everyday and get started on work and wouldn’t finish by 5...and asked me to stay late EVERYDAY. at the last minute. The kids were 4 yo and 6 months and baby always kept her up at night. But sorry lady, some people aren’t fortunate enough to work from home and sleep in until noon everyday.

I remember your posts. Are you saying that the DH was also there though?? And you were expected to work late?

Be completely upfront if you hire a nanny about you working from home. And for the love of whatever god, do not interfere with the nanny during the day when she is with your child!! And KEEP YOUR DOOR LOCKED!!! I worked at my last nanny job where both parents worked from home and I wasn’t told ever!! My only informed me she worked from home and I show up the first day and ask where dad works and they told me he also worked from home. MB always kept her door open and the kids would go in and bother and wouldn’t want to leave...or they would interfere when the child wasn’t listening to me and undermine me. So many problems.

Also, figure out a schedule. Let’s say you need 8 hours of work to complete your task and your nanny’s schedule is 9-5. Please stick to it!! My MB asked me to work from 8-5 yet would wake up until 11/12 everyday and get started on work and wouldn’t finish by 5...and asked me to stay late EVERYDAY. at the last minute. The kids were 4 yo and 6 months and baby always kept her up at night. But sorry lady, some people aren’t fortunate enough to work from home and sleep in until noon everyday.

When my kids were babies toddlers we had a nanny or they went to daycare.

Anonymous wrote:We’ve have a great nanny. It could not be a better arrangement for us. Our child gets individual attention from her, goes somewhere with her every morning, and gets to eat and nap at home. Plus I can see him during the day. And when he has a cold, Nanny is with him and I can still work (unlike daycare where I’d have to take off work).

I did the same - I WAH and had a nanny come in... she was fine with my WAH schedule and I had a separate office with a closed door to keep the interruptions at a minimal. Now my kids are 9&11 and for the summer they go to camp half-days and can hang out for the 2 hours left (I work 9-3). But in the early years, you absolutely need to have childcare. It just won't work otherwise.

We’ve have a great nanny. It could not be a better arrangement for us. Our child gets individual attention from her, goes somewhere with her every morning, and gets to eat and nap at home. Plus I can see him during the day. And when he has a cold, Nanny is with him and I can still work (unlike daycare where I’d have to take off work).

Daycare works better, but we just hired a nanny who is ok with us teleworking - we discussed it up front.

You have to have childcare if you're working. It sucks but its really just impossible unless your kids are like 10+ and able to be relatively self motivated to entertain themselves.

The same way a person that works outside the home handles it-nanny or daycare

If you work from home or are a sahm needing regular time to ramp up into a career, how did or do you handle child care?