Anonymous wrote:I also think you should consider day care. If you really like your house just so - don't have a nanny and a baby at it all day. You will still have to lighten up but it will be easier if the baby isn't there all day.

+1. Lots of people pay for art classes because they don't want all that messy crap in their house. How big is your apartment? The biggest problem I envision is that there will not be a good place to keep all of these supplies. As others have said, you can put down tarps, etc. to protect surfaces.

What are you doing to do when your baby has spit ups all over the house? Diaper blow outs? First time having solid food??? Oh honey.

A roomba is your friend

not to freak you out even more but kids shouldn't play in open sand pits bc cats and other wild animals tend to poop and pee in them

You can expect a nanny to clean up the messes she creates. I actually love working for neat freak parents but only if they don’t expect me to clean THEIR mess. The worst are the ones who has impossible standards but don’t want to actually clean up after themselves. I make huge messes all day long and the parents give me a 30 min heads up before coming home (at my request) so I can tidy. When they make the mistake of coming home early, they won’t into a bomb, and have to deal with me and extra 15-20 mins cleaning up all our activities. Most Nannie’s actually want to work for clean parents. If we did sensory bibs and painting and park sand trips, I’d use the dust buster before the end of the shift. I’m not pulling out the vacuum though, I’m not a cleaner and only clean messes I create. The parents come home to a spotless house. My suggestion is to have play clothes you don’t care about staining! Your nanny candidate sounds excellent, btw!

Anonymous wrote:You'll need to accept that messes happen, and while a good nanny will clean up after herself and the kids---messes still happen. grains of sand will be missed or it will be a rough day with sick kids or a busy day with outings and things won't get done perfectly.

That said, invest in a good robot vacuum, and/or a dog who will eat anything, and it will help with the floors at least.

A dog is terrible advice! The hair and mud? Are you high?!?

You'll need to accept that messes happen, and while a good nanny will clean up after herself and the kids---messes still happen. grains of sand will be missed or it will be a rough day with sick kids or a busy day with outings and things won't get done perfectly.

That said, invest in a good robot vacuum, and/or a dog who will eat anything, and it will help with the floors at least.

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are admittedly both clean-freaks. Our apartment is spotless with “a place for everything and everything in it’s place”. We’re expecting our first baby and have decided to go with a good nanny. One fantastic nanny we interviewed talked about doing art with the baby when he’s older and going to a nearby park with a huge sand pit. She talked about sensory bins and homemade play dough. DH and I both had the same neurotic thought about what a mess it all would be! I know it’s nuts but how much cleaning up after the child can we hope for in a nanny?

Everything, that is, except the apostrophe. 😂

Good luck, OP. I was a clean freak before kids and the adjustment is hard. Nannies keep it clean, I found- it was me who struggled on the weekends when the kids wanted to do fun (messy) stuff and I knew I needed to allow it but I watched it all with an eye to the end clean up.

Anonymous wrote:OP, seriously don't worry about this. You will naturally adjust to a messier and more chaotic house just as you will naturally adjust to all the other parts about having kids. Any good nanny will clean up after herself and the kids.

But seriously, don't get hung up on this.

It is unfortunately not true that OP will adjust. My BIL is like this and as a result the kids can’t have their Lego’s or other “messy” toys out when he is around! They have to play after school (if there’s time) and put them all away by the time he comes home.

I also think you should consider day care. If you really like your house just so - don't have a nanny and a baby at it all day. You will still have to lighten up but it will be easier if the baby isn't there all day.

I think you’re going to have to loosen up. We don’t do sensory bins in the house and my kids aren’t interested in art (thank goodness). They play outside for hours every day and we take off shoes, coats, etc in the mudroom (we have always been a shoeless house bc I’m grossed out by the urban environment).

My house is still a freakin disaster.

Nanny here. I currently work for the most clean freak family ever and it has been a major struggle because they also prioritize having lush and expensive interiors, and they have NO space in the house that is fully appropriate for children. They also have a very active child who is very sensory-seeking (I suspect ADHD). Here are some issues we have had recently:

5yo got a 20 minute lecture about “running in the house.” He was running IN THE PLAYROOM and knocked over an antique lamp on an end table.

6yo threw a tantrum at dinner and ended up tipping his chair backward and into a cabinet. I was told this was a huge deal because the paint on the cabinets has to be airbrushed on and is a unique color so it is virtually impossible to touch up.

I was recently lectured for letting them play in the sandbox at the park. The only evidence inside the house was that after I washed and dried the clothes, there was residual sand in the lint trap and some fell on the floor and had to be wiped up.

If this is the level of cleanliness you could envision struggling with, I encourage you to either not have kids or have them in daycare all week and (indoor) activities all weekend.

On the other hand, another family I worked for were self-described “neat freaks,” so they worked with me to make areas where the kids could play and messes would be easy to clean up. They had a playroom with wood flooring, a washable rug and minimal furniture and we stored most of the toys in the closet. I taught the kids to tidy up after playtime and parents reinforced it on weekends. Kids had their own mini brooms and loved to help sweep and wipe up messes and even use the stick vacuum.

I had a drop cloth that I put down before doing sensory bins or playdough and we did super messy things like painting or water play in the bathtub or on the patio (no yard). They also made sure to provide a mudroom setup (even though they had an apartment) so that any outdoor messes could be cleaned up before tracking them through the house (pro tip, we kept a bunch of ikea bags by the front door so if we came back muddy or sandy, I would put out a bag and have the kids remove clothes and shoes in the bag then immediately scoop them up and go right to the bath.

Anonymous wrote:The bigger problem is cleaning up the bodily fluids and other stuff that your kid emits from every orifice, IMO. Compared to that, same is a breeze!
Seriously, don’t be that parent that won’t let’s their kid get messy or dirty; it’s part of childhood.

*sand* is a breeze…

The bigger problem is cleaning up the bodily fluids and other stuff that your kid emits from every orifice, IMO. Compared to that, same is a breeze!
Seriously, don’t be that parent that won’t let’s their kid get messy or dirty; it’s part of childhood.

I’m a nanny to self-admitted “neat freaks” and I adjusted to keep everyone happy. Your nanny will too. For example, my employers have a foyer in their apartment where I strip the kids down to their diaper and boxers when we’ve been playing in sand. And I have a big plastic tarp that I blue tape paper on top for painting and even the little one knows not to paint out of the blue tape. Sensory bins are outside.

If you have a nanny who loves activities consider yourself very lucky!

And understand that unless you have a mansion, sometimes the place for certain toys is on the floor.