What's normal?
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Anonymous
| If the parent is practically on top of you, what's the point? |
Anonymous
How do you know the parent is on top of the nanny?! And parents who work from home need childcare, too! |
Anonymous
Op hasn't responded. 
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Anonymous
I said IF. Perhaps you need to take your laptop to a coffee shop to stay out of their way. |
Anonymous
| My nanny took my youngest out like this once he dropped his morning nap. They would drop older siblings at preschool at 9, go to the library or a class, then a playground, then have lunch and pick up older siblings at 1. Sometimes, if it was raining, they'd visit the dollar store or barnes and noble or something to kill time before the library opened. Sometimes he'd take a brief snooze at 10/10:30 in the car, sometimes not. He loved having a "picnic" several days a week. |
Anonymous
| My nanny takes the kids out once in the morning and once in the afternoon. In the morning, they're out from 9:30 until 12 or so, and in the afternoon, it's 3:30-5 or 5:30 (unless it's raining). In the morning they go to classes, zoo, or the library (takes 20-30 minutes to walk one way), and in the afternoon, they go to the park. I think it's great they're out so much. The only thing is that they are in the stroller for up to/over an hour a day, but then they don't really sit much otherwise, so I think it's fine. |
Anonymous
| At that age I tend to keep outings in the 2 hr range. That said, 16 mo is a tough age to be having a parent around the house. If I were your nanny I'd probably draw out the outings and extra hour or two because I'd rather be out of the house than dealing with a kid that sees or hears the parents and goes bananas every half hour. That's not fun. Kids respond better to the nanny w/o the parent around for the most part. |
Anonymous
| My nanny took my dd out for that long as soon as she dropped the morning nap (she's now 18 months). And I don't work from home. Easter European and we believe in as much outside time as possible rain or shine (as long as it's not pouring buckets). They can walk to a ton of playgrounds (4 at least) and through a park and they pack a snack so out from 8:30-11:30 or so every day. Lots of running around and then lunch and a good nap. Sometimes they spend 30 min with chalk in the back yard and nanny draws things and makes up stories. when they're home due to rain or excessive heat or illness, the books and toys are still interesting to dd. |
Anonymous
I was just curious PP, what is your reason for thinking that more than 2-3 Hrs. is too much. Not trying to stir any pot, I am just curious. 
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Anonymous
| It depends. Sometime I'm gone with the girls (around that age) for 3 hours. We may walk or catch the train, which takes about 30-40 minutes. Will visit a museum, I'll change them. Then, we may go outside and have lunch or snacks and I let them play in the grass. Will take blankets, toys, snacks etc. It's not crazy to be out that long. But, if you're home all day, she may be finding extra things or places to go. I would never accept a position when parents are home. Parents are always watching like a hawk or when they get older, it's hard for the nanny because the child wants the mom/dad all the time. |
Anonymous
| I worked with a little boy from age 4 months to 3 years and his mom worked from home. We were definitely out of the house from 9-12:30 almost every day by the time he was 15 months. There was a beautiful park about a 20 min walk from their house (20 mins if I pushed him in the stroller briskly, longer if I let him walk for part of it), there was a big pond with ducks and a playground, and ten mins further from there was a library. Sometimes we took the long way home to the coffee shop and would split a whole wheat muffin. Three and a half hours flew by, and all the exercise and outside time helped with his naps, too. |
Anonymous
| I did this when the parents worked from home or if I took them on a far away outing. We could stay at the mall all day long! 3-4 hours sounds about right. |
Anonymous
| Um, I've never taken my charge to a mall. |
Anonymous
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I have taken my charges to the mall, but only when I needed to buy something for/with them.
On the other hand, I have never, NEVER had a parent complain that their children were out of the house too much. Just for comparison, this is a once-per-week schedule that I had while live-in 24/7 homeschooling 7 children ages almost 3, new 5, almost 7, 8.5, new 10, new 12, and almost 15 at the start. Nobody napped, and the kids did school 5-6 days that we didn't go to town. 6 am youngest 2 got up and around with help 6.15 am next 2 got up with supervision 6.30 am last 3 got up while I made breakfast with younger kids helping 7 am breakfast 7.30 am dishes/chores 8 am kids in car, driving to town, drop books in library slot on the way past 8.45 am park car in middle of town, walk to park (decent weather) or town rec center 9 am playtime 10 am walk to library 10.15 am choose new books 10.30 am storytime (several book, music/dancing, craft) 11.30 am walk to car, drop off books, pick up lunch 11.45 am walk to park or rec center noon lunch and play 2.45 pm walk to rec center if we were at the park 3 pm homeschool gym group 4 pm walk to car, drive to store 4.15 pm weekly shopping 5.15 pm load groceries in car 5.30 drive to park/rec center 5.45 pm dinner 6.15 pm drive back to house 7 pm arrive home, unload groceries 7.15 pm youngest got ready for bed 7.30 pm youngest in bed, next two got ready 8 pm 2nd and 3rd in bed, next two got ready 8.30 pm 4th and 5th in bed, next got ready 9 pm 6th in bed 9.30 pm last got ready 10 pm 7th in bed I carried a backpack with snacks, books, toy and a change of clothes for the youngest. Everybody (including the youngest) had a water bottle in their backpack, everybody except the youngest also carried a toy and/or book to read if they were tired in their backpack. There was a second bag just for library books going back, that way we didn't need to pack and unpack bags during the day. Water bottles were refilled as needed, bathrooms were always available, kids loved it (oldest wasn't enthused about the gym group). Parent was very in favor of kids being outside as much as possible, and if not outside, at least running and walking around. When the temperature dropped below zero, we drove rather than walking. When I started with 15 month old twins, the schedule was (for a short time, at the parents' insistence): 7.30 am up, diaper, and dress 8 am breakfast 8.30 am clean up 8.45 am diaper and brush teeth 9 am playtime outside, incorporating early education 10 am in stroller for a walk, snack in stroller 10.30 am transfer sleeping child to crib for nap, try to do a diaper change without waking the child 12.30 up and diaper 1 pm lunch 1.30 pm clean up 1.45 pm diaper and brush teeth 2 pm education focused playtime in the basement 2.30 pm snack 2.45 pm reading/playing in bedroom 3 pm diaper and back to reading 3.30 pm snack 3.45 pm reading/playing in bedroom 4 pm diaper 4.15 pm either mini nature walk outside or unguided playtime in the basement 5 pm dinner 5.30 pm clean up 5.45 pm teeth, bath, diaper and pajamas 6.30 reading/playing quietly in bedroom 7 pm bottle (drowsy or they wouldn't take it) 7.30 pm bedtime (rocking to sleep, children would wake when put down, so they usually fell asleep after 8.30 pm) The parents were too focused on limiting germs by not going ANYWHERE, too much food too close together, and nap was way too early and started in the stroller. We transitioned to naps in the crib first, then bedtime in the crib. By gradually shifting the nap later, snacks and lunch were spaced more reasonably. However, the mother was overly cautious about injury and illness, so the kids never socialized with anyone other than relatives while I was there. I'm not saying that there can't be a middle ground. OP, you need to talk to your nanny and figure out what will work for her and your child. I would NOT recommend limiting outings to 1.5 hours at 16 months, because at that age, your child needs to walk as much as they can before finishing the walk in the stroller. |
Anonymous
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^^^ Wow! Twelve hours in the house!!
I would have gone stir crazy!! Personally parents who work from home should be glad the child + Nanny are out of the house. That way it is quiet w/zero distraction. I sometimes do not buy the fact that parents actually work that hard when in the home since it seems the majority of them spend way too much time listening in and micromanaging their Nannies. |