I'm curious....

[Anonymous]

Here's how I view it:

Being a nanny is my job. At most jobs, you bring your own food.

I have no problem packing my own lunch every day for work. Yes, sometimes I may snag an apple or if I forget my lunch make a sandwich. If I'm asked to stay late last minute and didn't bring dinner, I'll eat dinner with the kids. I see it this way, this is my job and I get paid a salary. Unless I'm getting paid crap, there is not reason for me to assume I automatically just eat all my meals out of the family's kitchen.

Also for the mom's who say not eating of their food, it's probably because one nanny before at all their meals there and took advantage of it. It's the whole one bad apple ruins the bunch thing.

[Anonymous]

Many nannies get very comfortable and start filling their pie holes with 4+ meals in one single shift. I have no problem with nanny grabbing a drink, snack or eating what the children are eating, etc but don't eat like a king just because the supply is there and is free.

[Anonymous]

I have never had a parent say along the lines of'don't eat my food.' It's usually 'help yourself' which I do within reason. Now, if you are expecting your employers to buy your groceries, make meals, or give you money for your meals while at work, you need to negotiate that when doing the contract or stop bitching and bring your own meals...it's really not hard at all to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, find me a post where an MB said that she told her nanny not to touch her food under any circumstance.

Here's how I see it and I imagine many parents are similar. Our family is really busy. If I employ my nanny from say 8am to 6pm, I'm out of the house for a huge chunk of the day. I already have trouble keeping up with grocery shopping just for us. I eat out with relative frequency and sometimes there are days when I don't have much in the house at all. I have a nanny because it gives me and my kids some extra time and sanity. It is to make my life easier essentially.

So grocery shopping for my nanny, making sure she has something for lunch every day, making sure I have her favorite snacks every day. The other OP made it sound like a hot lunch needed to be available. All this adds up to NOT making my life easier. Indeed, adding additional stress. What if my nanny shows up for work without any food and I haven't had time to grocery shop??

She's welcome to eat whatever she finds, but you see, providing her food of choice takes it to a whole other level. And it does cost a not insignificant amount of money to feed someone 5 days a week for 9 hours. You'd better believe that if I was providing that as a perk, it would be factored into her compensation somewhere or at the very least I would be expecting a higher quality of care than I would from a similarly paid nanny who I wasn't having to worry about feeding.

It really isnt that hard and you are acting like a martyr.


If your nanny is in the house all day (or with your family) you can ask that she do some grocery shops for you. Now you don't have to have her pick up enough food for 3 months (a la costco), but she can get a few things.

That being said, the issue isn't that you don't have food in the house. The issue being debated is the scenario of a parent saying "We do not want you eating our food". I'm an MB, our nanny has full run of the kitchen and house! She can have anything in the fridge that she wants. If she wants a PB and J, go ahead. If she wants to eat frozen hot dogs, have at it. So on days that I have to go to the store, she still has run of the fridge/pantry, just not as many options.

I'm the PP you quoted. How am I being a martyr? I don't have a cause that I'm suffering for. I'm employing someone to help me in my home, so adding on an additional requirement where I am now doing regular grocery shopping for this person just doesn't make sense to me. I appreciate the nannies who have posted who understand that nannying is a job and that simply because you are working next to someone's kitchen doesn't mean you shouldn't bring your own food to your job. But really - your statement about hot dogs and sandwiches - reread my post. Isn't that pretty much exactly what I said the arrangement in my house is too?

[Anonymous]

Its easy IF you have older kids and you cook regularly at home. In this situation, you have lots of food in the pantry and refrigerator. The nanny can choose from pasta, sandwich meats, salads, fruits..you name it. There are usually good left overs. This is our house starting when the kids became regular food/meal eaters.

When the kids were infants, DH and I never, never cooked. We didn't cook when we were married without kids. Neither of us cooked when we were single. I'm not a lunch eater anyway so frankly I would not known what to buy. If the nanny was expecting to eat at our house she would have been dining on baby food, mustard, coffee, wine, left over chinese food, and sometimes a carrot. Our nanny brought her lunch.