Does your nanny use your wifi?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have always offered our wifi password to our nannies. There are many things I worry about, but this isn't one of them.

Me too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All phones are required to be able to
dial 911, regardless of Internet.

having a phone required to dial 911 does you no good if you don't get cell reception where you're at. In in a major city and there are large neighborhood pockets where I get very little reception.

[Anonymous]

I do live-in, and I've only had one family who thought that it shouldn't be provided, but since they listed it in the contract as part of the reason for docking me $4/hour, they were required to give it. I don't abuse the privilege, but really, there are plenty of times when a child wants to see something and we don't have a picture in the house, and it only takes me 15 seconds to find one on the computer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I needed it at several jobs because of reception so poor, the parents couldn't even text me and I couldn't make phone calls. But it was a pragmatic issue.

Me too. Somehow I always end up working in an area with bad cell reception!

[Anonymous]

I've had it go both ways. One family offered to let me come early before I got my charge off the bus to do school work, so she gave me the password. Another family gave it to me to use during naps. My last family I never even asked because the child was older and we had a busy schedule go stick to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we recently hired a new nanny due to our first one moving to another part of the state. Our new one has been with us now for 2 full weeks. Her contract states that her duties are housekeeping related to the baby and our twins that are 22 months old. Her hours are 9:15-5:15. 3 late morning a week I take the twins to a mommy and me type class for about an hour and so she only has the baby during that time. She asked me yesterday when I was about to return to work if I could write down our security code for use of the wifi while she is at work. I don't know it and have to get my husband to get it off the box in our attic. But before I do that I sort of feel uncomfortable about it. Will this cause a problem? Will she start abusing the use of her phone while working now? My kids are not at clear speaking age yet so they wouldn't be able to say rather or not she is doing this. Should I be concerned? Our first nanny asked for it so I didn't know if it is common info I should've given a household employee. She seemed sort of annoyed that I hadn't already done so

Your last nanny didn't even stay with you much more than 20 months at most, so maybe you are doing something wrong by withholding the wifi. Considering being nicer.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for the responses. I live in a pretty clear area and we happen to share the same provider. We get good reception in our house everywhere except in my garage. There is a iMac set up at a nook in our kitchen that I showed her how to use during orientation. I actually encouraged her to use it for ideas and research etc or if she wants to make a certain mix cd for the kids playroom. Also we have the music channels on our cable plan and I showed her those because I tend to listen to the kids channels for music when they are up and about and classical for myself.

Guess I should've said all of this in the op. We also have a home phone. These are the reasons I'm wondering if she just wants it to fool around all day? Shouldn't her data be enough for downtime? I don't really mind the wifi at all just wondering if her seeming to be annoyed at this situation means I left out something standard to hiring a nanny or something!? Lol. If we didn't have the same mobile company I wouldn't even wonder lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we recently hired a new nanny due to our first one moving to another part of the state. Our new one has been with us now for 2 full weeks. Her contract states that her duties are housekeeping related to the baby and our twins that are 22 months old. Her hours are 9:15-5:15. 3 late morning a week I take the twins to a mommy and me type class for about an hour and so she only has the baby during that time. She asked me yesterday when I was about to return to work if I could write down our security code for use of the wifi while she is at work. I don't know it and have to get my husband to get it off the box in our attic. But before I do that I sort of feel uncomfortable about it. Will this cause a problem? Will she start abusing the use of her phone while working now? My kids are not at clear speaking age yet so they wouldn't be able to say rather or not she is doing this. Should I be concerned? Our first nanny asked for it so I didn't know if it is common info I should've given a household employee. She seemed sort of annoyed that I hadn't already done so

Your last nanny didn't even stay with you much more than 20 months at most, so maybe you are doing something wrong by withholding the wifi. Considering being nicer.

Oh please do shut up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do live-in, and I've only had one family who thought that it shouldn't be provided, but since they listed it in the contract as part of the reason for docking me $4/hour, they were required to give it. I don't abuse the privilege, but really, there are plenty of times when a child wants to see something and we don't have a picture in the house, and it only takes me 15 seconds to find one on the computer.

Um, what the hell? How did you feel about that? These seems crazy irrational to me. And you stayed?

[Anonymous]

Why should she have to use her data when she's in a house with wifi?

I think you're waaaaay overthinking things and are setting yourself up for a rough run with this nanny.

[Anonymous]

I've been a nanny and babysitter for over twelve years, and in that time I've nannied for four different families and occasionally babysat for at least a dozen others. Every single family I've nannied for offered me their wifi password on day one. The few babysitting clients I've had who didn't give it to me straight away immediately and without hesitation gave it to me when I asked. I consider it common courtesy, and if a family I nannied for balked at my request for their wifi password, it would be a huge red flag (trust issue), and although I can't say that that in and of itself would lead me to quit, it would definitely push me in that direction.

No, I don't sit there and surf the web while my charges are awake or otherwise abuse it, but as others have pointed out it is just easier to use my own phone or iPad for things like looking up craft ideas, recipes, directions to a new park, etc with my charges, and it certainly wouldn't be fair for me to have to use up my own data plan for on the job research. And I do use it for personal use while my charges nap; it seems cruel to not let the nanny use the wifi for her devices while the children are sleeping, once she had completed any necessary tasks, cleaning, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been a nanny and babysitter for over twelve years, and in that time I've nannied for four different families and occasionally babysat for at least a dozen others. Every single family I've nannied for offered me their wifi password on day one. The few babysitting clients I've had who didn't give it to me straight away immediately and without hesitation gave it to me when I asked. I consider it common courtesy, and if a family I nannied for balked at my request for their wifi password, it would be a huge red flag (trust issue), and although I can't say that that in and of itself would lead me to quit, it would definitely push me in that direction.

No, I don't sit there and surf the web while my charges are awake or otherwise abuse it, but as others have pointed out it is just easier to use my own phone or iPad for things like looking up craft ideas, recipes, directions to a new park, etc with my charges, and it certainly wouldn't be fair for me to have to use up my own data plan for on the job research. And I do use it for personal use while my charges nap; it seems cruel to not let the nanny use the wifi for her devices while the children are sleeping, once she had completed any necessary tasks, cleaning, etc.

Yes to all of this.

[Anonymous]

Are you for real? I would have asked in the first hour if you didn't offer it to me; I have almost no data and if I pop onto Maps to see how close that Gymboree class is or what the bus route to the pool looks like I don't want to pay data charges. This is one of those little things you shouldn't even be thinking about, let alone worrying about.

[Anonymous]

And yes, when there is a little downtime I would very much like to be able to check my email or the news. Why would you think her data would be enough for that? I get like 150 MB a month...it is definitely not enough. If you seriously don't trust her to have wifi access on her phone you need to hire someone else.

[Anonymous]

I'm so grateful to work for a family that trusts me with their wifi password AND in my ability to do my job.