Nanny "down time"

[Anonymous]

Of course, working and going to school is not an easy road.

But why do you expect your employer to pay you to do your homework? Even you admit it is a luxury, yet you think I'm stupid for suggesting it should not be allowed?

Seriously, you are crazy if you think you deserve to be paid to study on the job.

I work and go to school. If my boss caught me studying on the clock, I'd be fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course, working and going to school is not an easy road.

But why do you expect your employer to pay you to do your homework? Even you admit it is a luxury, yet you think I'm stupid for suggesting it should not be allowed?

Seriously, you are crazy if you think you deserve to be paid to study on the job.

I work and go to school. If my boss caught me studying on the clock, I'd be fired.

She's not leaving to go home and study while in the clock. She is in fact still doing her job, there is simply nothing to physically be done at nap time. You pay a nanny during nap time so that she is there if a kid wakes up or needs something. And I'll say it once more, your job is not our job! We do THIS job because it allows us time to do schoolwork. There are a million other things I could do, but I choose to nanny because its fun/doesn't stress me out, and it has natural breaks during the day that allow me to get other things done, such as school work. You took your job, knowing that wasn't going to happen. You cannot compare the two. Of course OP can decide to demand certain things be done during nap, she should just be prepared to lose her nanny over something really stupid. There are PLENTY of normal employers who are just happy to have a good caregiver they trust caring for their kids, and actually encourage and respect someone working to put themselves through school. It would do you well to think of someone beside yourself sometimes.

[Anonymous]

OP ignore the nannies. You and your share partner are not paying the nanny to do her homework for 3 hours a day. You and your share partner should work out what tasks make the most sense making sure to allow an hour for the nanny to have her own break during nap time. Sit down with the nanny and present the list of tasks. Give her room to offer her own suggestions something else that is valuable to both you and your share partner but watch her for her coming up with something that she knows takes 2 minutes once a week and playing it as if it would take hours. It doesn't have to be kid related, it can be related to the household.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course, working and going to school is not an easy road.

But why do you expect your employer to pay you to do your homework? Even you admit it is a luxury, yet you think I'm stupid for suggesting it should not be allowed?

Seriously, you are crazy if you think you deserve to be paid to study on the job.

I work and go to school. If my boss caught me studying on the clock, I'd be fired.

She's not leaving to go home and study while in the clock. She is in fact still doing her job, there is simply nothing to physically be done at nap time. You pay a nanny during nap time so that she is there if a kid wakes up or needs something. And I'll say it once more, your job is not our job! We do THIS job because it allows us time to do schoolwork. There are a million other things I could do, but I choose to nanny because its fun/doesn't stress me out, and it has natural breaks during the day that allow me to get other things done, such as school work. You took your job, knowing that wasn't going to happen. You cannot compare the two. Of course OP can decide to demand certain things be done during nap, she should just be prepared to lose her nanny over something really stupid. There are PLENTY of normal employers who are just happy to have a good caregiver they trust caring for their kids, and actually encourage and respect someone working to put themselves through school. It would do you well to think of someone beside yourself sometimes.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP ignore the nannies. You and your share partner are not paying the nanny to do her homework for 3 hours a day. You and your share partner should work out what tasks make the most sense making sure to allow an hour for the nanny to have her own break during nap time. Sit down with the nanny and present the list of tasks. Give her room to offer her own suggestions something else that is valuable to both you and your share partner but watch her for her coming up with something that she knows takes 2 minutes once a week and playing it as if it would take hours. It doesn't have to be kid related, it can be related to the household.

Unless their nanny is also paid as a housekeeper, yes, it does need to be kids related. And please, enlighten us with all of the wildly enriching and time consuming activities OPs nanny is supposed to be doing with 6 month old infants. She is doing the job they hired her for, she is not require to fill every minute of her day with child related activities, just as I am SURE you do not at your job (case in point, you are posting on DCUM while presumably on the clock).
OP, prepare to lose your nanny if you being this up. You will look petty and greedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP ignore the nannies. You and your share partner are not paying the nanny to do her homework for 3 hours a day. You and your share partner should work out what tasks make the most sense making sure to allow an hour for the nanny to have her own break during nap time. Sit down with the nanny and present the list of tasks. Give her room to offer her own suggestions something else that is valuable to both you and your share partner but watch her for her coming up with something that she knows takes 2 minutes once a week and playing it as if it would take hours. It doesn't have to be kid related, it can be related to the household.

How many nannies have you been through (if you've even had a nanny)?
My guess would be many. You are untrusting, condescending and just plain nasty.
A nanny is responsible for the care of children and child related tasks. A nanny is not responsible for cleaning up after you or cooking your meals. If you can't hire a housekeeper, do it yourself.
I would be able to smell you coming from a mile away...because you're too lazy to do your own laundry.

[Anonymous]

I had a long talk with my current nanny about whether she could manage school and a full time job. We have 3 kids all at home, and I did not want someone whose priority was her school work. I didn't want to feel like it was on me to find her more time if the kids didn't nap one day. It is not your responsibility to make sure she gets her assignments in on time. While I don't think you should fill her every minute with tasks, I do think she could clean the play area, etc.. These tasks (and planning activities) will become more important as the kids get older.

I would also worry about a lot of the nannies on this thread quitting as soon as the babies get more difficult and downtime starts disappearing. So make sure she's working out for you now rather than banking on later.

Unless, of course, you're paying a lower rate because she's a student. In that case, I would say homework time is assumed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a long talk with my current nanny about whether she could manage school and a full time job. We have 3 kids all at home, and I did not want someone whose priority was her school work. I didn't want to feel like it was on me to find her more time if the kids didn't nap one day. It is not your responsibility to make sure she gets her assignments in on time. While I don't think you should fill her every minute with tasks, I do think she could clean the play area, etc.. These tasks (and planning activities) will become more important as the kids get older.

I would also worry about a lot of the nannies on this thread quitting as soon as the babies get more difficult and downtime starts disappearing. So make sure she's working out for you now rather than banking on later.

Unless, of course, you're paying a lower rate because she's a student. In that case, I would say homework time is assumed.

Nannies quit when bosses become difficult. It's usually never the children that make a nanny quit.
It's YOU!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do employers handle their nannies down time? So, in my nanny share, for example, if the nanny has several hours a day when both boys (6 months each) are sleeping, is it appropriate for me to ask her to do things related to the boys? Like work on new toys, i.e. activity boards etc? She is taking classes at night and currently does homework.

OP, it is completely reasonable for a nanny to have child-related duties that she attends to throughout the day - it's a little different in a share (e.g. she shouldn't be doing laundry for one family when she can't complete it for the other) but things like cleaning toys, preparing food, researching activities, and so on are perfectly reasonable.

However.

1) You should have negotiated the things you wanted done when you hired her. Adding more responsibilities to her job description now means sitting down and proposing the new tasks, not simply assigning them to her. She may ask for a raise or additional benefits and this is completely reasonable because you are changing the terms of the job (particularly if she asked when you hired her about doing homework during nap time and you agreed she'd be able to do that).

2) You should remember that some days she will have a lot of down time, some days she will have none, and this will fluctuate even more as the kids get older. If you're looking at it as trying to make sure she's working every minute of the day you're going to have a bitter nanny - and you'll be a frustrated employer. Instead, figure out what you and your share partners need and want to have done, approximate how much time you think those requests will take (make sure it's within her average weekly down time), and make sure you tell her that your priority is childcare and if the babies don't nap or other tasks require her more immediate attention (i.e. emergency baths/laundry after a blow-out diaper) that you understand. If she's a professional she will still manage to get things done 99% of the time.

3) There are NOT enough child-related tasks to fill her down time right now. Accept that she will simply get some time off during the day, remind yourself that a refreshed adult gives better care than an exhausted one, and remember that in a year she might not even get a quiet 20 minute lunch break to herself, never mind several hours a day. Like most jobs, nanny positions have an ebb and flow of being more/less work and offering more/less down time as the children grow and if she's experienced she'll be cognizant of that; a nanny who works with toddlers-preschoolers can work 10-12 hours straight without a single minute "off."

+1

[Anonymous]

I am so glad my employers realize that the most important thing I can do is care for their children.
As a nanny in a share, there are some days I have down time (when the babies nap at the same time) but other days I'm lucky if I have time to eat a sandwich. If I'm able to get to things like laundry or dishes, I absolutely will. But my first priority is taking care of the babies, and part of that means a little down time so I can recharge.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be so unfair OP that you have been ok with letting your nanny study during nap times thus far and then suddenly you would ask her to do specific chores now. Unless you agreed upon this when she accepted the job, it would be fundamentally wrong of you to change the terms of the job now.

Even though she is studying during nap time, remember she is still working. She is still responsible for those two babies. She has to be there, in your home, away from her own family. She cannot leave at all, she is bound there and must have a listening ear in case anything should arise. There is never a 100% guarantee that those babies will sleep for a few hours. One may have a nightmare, one may be ill, etc. Also, she needs to be alert in case of a fire, an intruder, etc.

What about jobs such as firefighters. When there are no fires and they sit at the stations playing cards? Do their employers complain that they are paying them to do "nothing??" Or the Wal-mart cashiers who are standing around during a slow time...Do they get reprimanded for standing around and getting paid for doing nothing??

Some of these responses make no sense to me. I cannot believe some people actually believe some of their own nonsense.

[Anonymous]

OP, we've had shares and employed full time nannies. Our expectation was and is that our nannies should have an hour of downtime during her work day. The rest of the time, they should expect to be working. That's what we always told them and it seems to go over well.

Also - and this probably needs to be talked over while you discuss the contract - certain housekeeping duties are squarely a part of the standard nanny duties. Baby laundry, clean-up of play areas and the baby's room, for instance, are standard nanny duties. They aren't part of the "light housekeeping". They are what nannies ought to be doing as part of the childcare services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, we've had shares and employed full time nannies. Our expectation was and is that our nannies should have an hour of downtime during her work day. The rest of the time, they should expect to be working. That's what we always told them and it seems to go over well.

Also - and this probably needs to be talked over while you discuss the contract - certain housekeeping duties are squarely a part of the standard nanny duties. Baby laundry, clean-up of play areas and the baby's room, for instance, are standard nanny duties. They aren't part of the "light housekeeping". They are what nannies ought to be doing as part of the childcare services.

What about the days where she gets less than an hour? Do you pay her extra, or is she allowed to ignore the kids for a while?? What about when they stop napping? You cannot mange every moment of down time, to think you can is ridiculous. Im sure your bosses would love to figure how to keep you off DCUM, talking on your phone, and blabbing with your coworkers. Your nannies are likely nodding to your face and doing their own thing during the day, so long as it gets done, as they very well should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, we've had shares and employed full time nannies. Our expectation was and is that our nannies should have an hour of downtime during her work day. The rest of the time, they should expect to be working. That's what we always told them and it seems to go over well.

Also - and this probably needs to be talked over while you discuss the contract - certain housekeeping duties are squarely a part of the standard nanny duties. Baby laundry, clean-up of play areas and the baby's room, for instance, are standard nanny duties. They aren't part of the "light housekeeping". They are what nannies ought to be doing as part of the childcare services.

What about the days where she gets less than an hour? Do you pay her extra, or is she allowed to ignore the kids for a while?? What about when they stop napping? You cannot mange every moment of down time, to think you can is ridiculous. Im sure your bosses would love to figure how to keep you off DCUM, talking on your phone, and blabbing with your coworkers. Your nannies are likely nodding to your face and doing their own thing during the day, so long as it gets done, as they very well should.

Days where she gets less than an hour are simply part of the job, just like I have days at the office where I have to be glued to my desk working at breakneck speed. On days that aren't that crazy, I am expected to take no more than an hour for my midday break. We are professionals and we are expected to fill our days with productive work.

Children nap for quite some time, you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, we've had shares and employed full time nannies. Our expectation was and is that our nannies should have an hour of downtime during her work day. The rest of the time, they should expect to be working. That's what we always told them and it seems to go over well.

Also - and this probably needs to be talked over while you discuss the contract - certain housekeeping duties are squarely a part of the standard nanny duties. Baby laundry, clean-up of play areas and the baby's room, for instance, are standard nanny duties. They aren't part of the "light housekeeping". They are what nannies ought to be doing as part of the childcare services.

What about the days where she gets less than an hour? Do you pay her extra, or is she allowed to ignore the kids for a while?? What about when they stop napping? You cannot mange every moment of down time, to think you can is ridiculous. Im sure your bosses would love to figure how to keep you off DCUM, talking on your phone, and blabbing with your coworkers. Your nannies are likely nodding to your face and doing their own thing during the day, so long as it gets done, as they very well should.

Days where she gets less than an hour are simply part of the job, just like I have days at the office where I have to be glued to my desk working at breakneck speed. On days that aren't that crazy, I am expected to take no more than an hour for my midday break. We are professionals and we are expected to fill our days with productive work.

Children nap for quite some time, you know.

SOME children nap for some time. That's my point. In a share, the amount of down time is even more unpredictable than normal because you have two children with their own idiosyncrasies. If you start piling on a bunch of tasks to fill the down time you *think* she has, on those days where naps aren't what you expect, for one child, the other, or both, she will not get a break. You may say its part of the job, but then your job suddenly sucks, and it wouldn't be too hard for her to find one that doesn't. I've never, in my ten years of nannying, had an employer try to dictate what I do during nap time. They're usually just so happy with my performance, they really could care less what goes on while their child sleeps better than they ever do for them.