Families have got to start learning the difference between childcare and housekeeping. And nannies need to reinforce the difference.

Nanny is paid $35/hour, one child. She doesn’t do any household tasks. She prepares simple snacks and lunches (no actual cooking, just heating up or assembling). She cleans up after snacks and meals, including wiping down counters and high chair.

Sometimes she empties the dishwasher for us without us asking, but I’ve made it clear to her that she doesn’t need to. I actually try to run it in the evenings so that she doesn’t feel obligated.

Before you say “that’s a lot for one kid,” we feel very lucky to have her. She was with her prior 2 families for years and years. DC adores her and is so happy to see her in the morning. DC is very active and socialized and goes to all kinds of activities thanks to her planning.

Anonymous wrote:What extra tasks (aside from watching children) does your nanny do and what is their compensation? We pay our nanny $26/hr for one child and her only other task is to do child’s laundry once per week, change crib sheet, and take out diaper trash as needed. Nanny sometimes cooks for child - like an omlet or pancakes - nothing elaborate. Does this seem reasonable? Do other nannies do more cleaning and tasks and at what rate? I would love for our nanny to do a bit more - whether it’s more cooking for child, deep cleaning the high chair or nursery on occasion, etc but I don’t know what pay expectations are in the DC area.

Watching children is a full time job. If you want cleaning, your laundry, or any non-chikd related "tasks", you hire a maid, laundress, window cleaner. Etc.

If you are happy with your childcare then don't pile on more than what the two of you agreed to in her contract, if you want to keep her!

Nanny/household manager $35hr

Childcare (kids in PT school)

When kids are in school:
Letting dog out
Ordering and putting away groceries
Basic meal prep (washing, chopping, marinating) or dumping in a crockpot
Keeping playroom and kids bedrooms organized
Simple errands- returns, pharmacy, post office

I used to do all the organizing as far as my charges social life. I looked up local story times for example, and signed them up for swim lessons, arranged playdates as they got older. Kept track of literally all that kind of thing 5 days a week. No cleaning other than cleaning up after myself and charge(s) and doing their laundry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren’t paying her enough to do anything besides watch your child. If you want a housekeeper hire one. Nannies should clean up after themselves/child while in their care but asking her to clean and organize and vacuum is not going to happen at $26/hour. If the kid dumps cereal everywhere sure they should clean it but expecting this regularly is too high an expectation.

That is an appropriate salary.

For a nanny/housekeeper? LOL. Maybe in Mississippi.

I agree, dishwasher is a silly thing to do and not part of nanny job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:new nanny here. Meaning, it is my first time nanny job though I worked with kids for years in other roles. When I signed up I agreed to many things but now when I have worked for 3 months I can hardly keep up. Do you guys think I can get out of some of my dur am I stuck? Like folding kiddo's laundry takes me forever, and then I told the family at the beginning that i can load and unload dishwasher every morning, they were super happy about it. Now I do not think I can keep up anymore. Will they fire me if I tell them that I find less and less time to fulfill those additional duties?

Your employers’ asks are very reasonable barring abnormal circumstances. Folding laundry is like a 30-min task 1x a week. Loading and unloading dishwasher is a 30-min task once a day. If you care for a young child then they probably nap for 2-3 hours and you can use part of that time. If you care for an older child then they can play independently while you do those things, or better yet, help you with them. My children have helped unload the dishwasher since they were three! I just remove all the sharp and breakable stuff first.

Folding laundry should only be one day a week but the dishwasher bit is too much. You should bring this up and tell her this is not working out. If she fires you over this then consider yourself lucky. F

For your next job, do not volunteer for extra tasks. The women in this area are entitled and lazy and think nothing of job creep

Anonymous wrote:What extra tasks (aside from watching children) does your nanny do and what is their compensation? We pay our nanny $26/hr for one child and her only other task is to do child’s laundry once per week, change crib sheet, and take out diaper trash as needed. Nanny sometimes cooks for child - like an omlet or pancakes - nothing elaborate. Does this seem reasonable? Do other nannies do more cleaning and tasks and at what rate? I would love for our nanny to do a bit more - whether it’s more cooking for child, deep cleaning the high chair or nursery on occasion, etc but I don’t know what pay expectations are in the DC area.

$26/hr is low. Nannies are not maids and if you want deep cleaning, hire a maid.

For $26/he I don’t think you can really expect more than what you’re currently getting.

Anonymous wrote:new nanny here. Meaning, it is my first time nanny job though I worked with kids for years in other roles. When I signed up I agreed to many things but now when I have worked for 3 months I can hardly keep up. Do you guys think I can get out of some of my duties, or am I stuck? Like folding kiddo's laundry takes me forever, and then I told the family at the beginning that i can load and unload dishwasher every morning, they were super happy about it. Now I do not think I can keep up anymore. Will they fire me if I tell them that I find less and less time to fulfill those additional duties?

Your employers’ asks are very reasonable barring abnormal circumstances. Folding laundry is like a 30-min task 1x a week. Loading and unloading dishwasher is a 30-min task once a day. If you care for a young child then they probably nap for 2-3 hours and you can use part of that time. If you care for an older child then they can play independently while you do those things, or better yet, help you with them. My children have helped unload the dishwasher since they were three! I just remove all the sharp and breakable stuff first.

Anonymous wrote:new nanny here. Meaning, it is my first time nanny job though I worked with kids for years in other roles. When I signed up I agreed to many things but now when I have worked for 3 months I can hardly keep up. Do you guys think I can get out of some of my duties, or am I stuck? Like folding kiddo's laundry takes me forever, and then I told the family at the beginning that i can load and unload dishwasher every morning, they were super happy about it. Now I do not think I can keep up anymore. Will they fire me if I tell them that I find less and less time to fulfill those additional duties?

Not at all! I would just appreciate you explaining it’s too much and that you’re feeling stretched thin and would rather focus on the kid.

new nanny here. Meaning, it is my first time nanny job though I worked with kids for years in other roles. When I signed up I agreed to many things but now when I have worked for 3 months I can hardly keep up. Do you guys think I can get out of some of my duties, or am I stuck? Like folding kiddo's laundry takes me forever, and then I told the family at the beginning that i can load and unload dishwasher every morning, they were super happy about it. Now I do not think I can keep up anymore. Will they fire me if I tell them that I find less and less time to fulfill those additional duties?

Nanny here and I do a ton more but I also make a lot more. I currently have 1 1/2 charges (infant and older sib in full-day program), do all kid laundry, help with parent laundry, weekly grocery run, make baby food for infant and family dinner 3x per week and help prep salads for MB and DB lunches.

I also make $35 per hour with functionally unlimited PTO because their schedules are flexible, they have family help and they love me so I have never asked for a day off and not had them figure out how to make it work. They are also incredibly loving and considerate and respectful and appreciative employers and really wonderful parents. Maybe you are too but realistically I would do less and/or charge more if they were high-maintenance.

Your nanny's only job is to take care of your child and things relating to them (put away toys after playing and the like.) I can see washing their laundry, but that's really beyond the scope, especially at $26/hour.