What tasks should I do to fill time youngest child is in preschool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You nannies are crazy if you think a family should pay full rate for a nanny to sit around doing nothing. Hopefully, the OP recognizes this before she listens to your rants and loses her job.

Maybe OP could sit around and educate herself. She might research the definition of a "nanny", much to your chagrin. She'd learn that a nanny is NOT your personal assistant or maid.

If you can't afford a nanny, so be it. Maybe you can afford a maid, if that.

[Anonymous]

If they want you to be available for sick days, etc. They pay for this and you do nothing else. They pay for the convenience of your availability for them.

[Anonymous]

"If they want you to be available for sick days, etc. They pay for this and you do nothing else. They pay for the convenience of your availability for them."

PP is crazy. OP should totally go to the family and tell them that- and then start the job hunt for when she is replaced. I would fire my nanny on the spot if she told me she expected to sit on her a** for 10 hours a week just to be available to cover sick days. OP-- my nanny is in the same boat-- she is just helpful-- she does the laundry (all of it) and puts it away, straightens the house, prepares food for dinner if asked, often makes the beds, does grocery shopping- we really appreciate her thoughtfulness and this is a good set-up for us both.

[Anonymous]

For the extra nine hours I would offer:

Food shopping
Meal prep/cooking (only if you enjoy it)
Running errands
Children's laundry

To offer cleaning is changing your job title from nanny to a housekeeper. Nannies do not vacuum, scrub floors, clean bathrooms, etc.

I have downtime at my current job and I'm not expected to do anything during this time. I get paid my hourly rate because I am HERE and available to them.

My only responsibilities are childcare. I don't do dishes, I don't do laundry, and I definitely do not vacuum or wash counters.

Does the family pay you well? I'm curious what your hourly rate is given that you do their dishes, take out their trash, clean their counters, and provide pet care.

OP- Do not offer cleaning. I don't know any nanny who dusts. If you do decide to become their nanny/housekeeper, I sure hope you get additional compensation.

[Anonymous]

If my nanny came to me and said she only wants to focus on childcare and expects to do nothing else, whether the child is at home or not, I'd laugh to myself. And then I'll have her do research and book reports on child development, one every day - two hours to read and one hour to write. Or game plans. Or park reviews. Or daily logs. You say you want to focus on childcare, well OK, let's see you do it. You sitting on the couch staring at the wall does not constitute focus on childcare.

[Anonymous]

13:09 - you don't do dishes meaning the leftover dishes from the family's night before? Or you don't do the ones you and the children generate during the day? You don't wipe the counters after you prepare lunch?

There is always a bit of inherent housework involved in taking care of the children. I would consider children's laundry in here too - but never my own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13:09 - you don't do dishes meaning the leftover dishes from the family's night before? Or you don't do the ones you and the children generate during the day? You don't wipe the counters after you prepare lunch?

There is always a bit of inherent housework involved in taking care of the children. I would consider children's laundry in here too - but never my own.

I'm 13:09. I clean up after the children when they have meals but it's not in my contract to empty or load the dishwasher. I always leave the kitchen the way I found it. In previous positions, I've been responsible for more than just cleaning up after myself and I was tired of being taken advantage of. Example: I would show up to work and the sink would be stacked with MB/DB dishes from the night before. Or the position with a SAHM who would eat something and throw her bowls and glasses in the sink as if she wasn't capable of opening the dishwasher.

[Anonymous]

To pp, I get that too when MB is home sometimes - she will eat and put her dishes in the sink even though I have just done them all (finished them right in front of her). You'd think she could put them in the dishwasher. She thinks she is really clever to run water in then to "soak" them before she walks away. That's an unspoken excuse not to put them in the dishwasher....the "soaking".....except it is a cereal bowl or plate from something that didn't need soaking, so that doesn't fool anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they want you to be available for sick days, etc. They pay for this and you do nothing else. They pay for the convenience of your availability for them.

LMAO! Some of you nannies are delusional. Like everyone else in the world, you get paid for your time, skills, and actual performance. Some parents might be willing to pay an on-call fee to secure your availability, but very, very few parents would pay full rate every day for the nanny to sit on her butt during all the hours the kids are in school.

OP, if you'd really rather be off, you might consider proposing a modest weekly "on call" fee for the hours they need you to be available but not actively engaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If my nanny came to me and said she only wants to focus on childcare and expects to do nothing else, whether the child is at home or not, I'd laugh to myself. And then I'll have her do research and book reports on child development, one every day - two hours to read and one hour to write. Or game plans. Or park reviews. Or daily logs. You say you want to focus on childcare, well OK, let's see you do it. You sitting on the couch staring at the wall does not constitute focus on childcare.

Love this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If my nanny came to me and said she only wants to focus on childcare and expects to do nothing else, whether the child is at home or not, I'd laugh to myself. And then I'll have her do research and book reports on child development, one every day - two hours to read and one hour to write. Or game plans. Or park reviews. Or daily logs. You say you want to focus on childcare, well OK, let's see you do it. You sitting on the couch staring at the wall does not constitute focus on childcare.

Haha book reports really!?!

What are you going to read them so you can actually be a better parent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they want you to be available for sick days, etc. They pay for this and you do nothing else. They pay for the convenience of your availability for them.

I am curious: what do you envisage yourself doing during that time when you are "available" but the kid isn't actually sick? Do you expect to be doing nothing (or nothing of value to the employer) and still clocking your full hourly fees? What is your interpretation of how this time ought to be used? Please don't say you're there to sanitize the toys or sort closets; that only happens occasionally, and certainly 3 hrs once a month is enough to take care of all the closet-sortin' in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want you to be available for sick days, etc. They pay for this and you do nothing else. They pay for the convenience of your availability for them.

I am curious: what do you envisage yourself doing during that time when you are "available" but the kid isn't actually sick? Do you expect to be doing nothing (or nothing of value to the employer) and still clocking your full hourly fees? What is your interpretation of how this time ought to be used? Please don't say you're there to sanitize the toys or sort closets; that only happens occasionally, and certainly 3 hrs once a month is enough to take care of all the closet-sortin' in the world.

+1

[Anonymous]

I noticed once that my terrific nanny was going above and beyond the light housekeeping I had asked of her and had regularly taken on a couple of additional housekeeping tasks. I thanked her and told her I appreciated it and recognized it was not part of her job. Her response was that she absolutely considered it part of her job - I had hired her to take the best care possible of my child, and the best thing for him was to ensure DH and I could maximize on family time with him when we were home in the evenings and on the weekends. She thought doing some of these tasks gave us one less thing to worry about so that we could focus on him when we were not at work, particularly since DC takes a two hour nap in the afternoons and she has the time. DH and I regularly bring work home to do after DC goes to bed so that we can come home at a reasonable hour so to us, having that many fewer household chores to do in the evening makes a HUGE difference. I may not have a child development degree, but I feel confident that having a nanny (or housekeeper or sitter or whatever) who has the common sense to recognize it is better for kids to have more time with their parents is better for my child than having a nanny who has read a hundred child development books but still doesn't see it as part of her job to maximize my time child's time with his us.

OP - please don't listen to to some of the terrible advice you've gotten on this thread. It's definitely reasonable not to want to scrub bathrooms, etc. but the reality is to get paid for the same hours, your employers have already told you you will need need to take on some more tasks. I'd either a) ask your employers to propose a list of tasks they want and ask for a few days to consider which you'd be willing to do , or b) propose the tasks you've already named that you'd be willing to do and see what they come back with. As a third alternative, would you find another job during those hours if they didn't pay you to keep them free? If not, you might suggest just having those hours off and unpaid, and agreeing to make yourself available for school holidays with x weeks of advance notice and at a higher rate for those hours (and to the best of your ability on sick days at the same or even higher rate). Since it sounds like you'd prefer having the time off unpaid, that might be a win-win for both you and the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my nanny came to me and said she only wants to focus on childcare and expects to do nothing else, whether the child is at home or not, I'd laugh to myself. And then I'll have her do research and book reports on child development, one every day - two hours to read and one hour to write. Or game plans. Or park reviews. Or daily logs. You say you want to focus on childcare, well OK, let's see you do it. You sitting on the couch staring at the wall does not constitute focus on childcare.

Haha book reports really!?!

What are you going to read them so you can actually be a better parent!

Not the poster you are responding to, but why would you assume the PP is not a good parent? If you take a college or graduate course, you have to pass an exam or paper to demonstrate you actually learned something. If nannies want to be paid for many hours a week to "focus on childcare and child development" why on earth should they not have to prove they have actually researched and earned something useful? (And yes, PP, I know your response was tongue in cheek, but I think you are both hilarious and spot on!)