Reasonable Cleaning Expectations

[Anonymous]

They EACH pay $20

[Anonymous]

Good grief. I nannied for twins and had no problem accomplishing things like this plus laundry and kids meal prep. and we went to classes and were out of the house several hours a day rain or shine. Expectations are so. low.

[Anonymous]

PP, I do not believe you. Current nanny of twins. Unless you worked 10 hrs a day I do not believe you spent "hours" outside the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp, $35 is not a top dollar for share.

I agree. $35 isn’t top dollar for the nanny but definitely for the families hiring as the sole motivation of a nanny share is to save as much money possible with yet extra work for the nanny. It is always interesting to see how unbalanced expectations are. If you want your nanny to stay with you give her enough to build a life and not just survive as families are also replaceable.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the reasons I do not touch nanny share. Each family are individually paying for the kid a baby sitter rate. How convenient for them!! They just expect you to see the illusion of a big number which truly isn’t!! Nannies do not lower your expectations!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Since typical rates for multiple kids are $30-$35, I fail to see how $35 would be inappropriate for a nanny share. And we pay $40, which grosses her over $80k per year. Yes, part of the reason for a nanny share is to save money, but we also wanted our kid to have some socialization with another kid his age. No one is forced to take a job. If our nanny didn't want to do a share, she could have declined the offer. Love how 99% of the nannies on here assume the worst about every employer when people are just asking a question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, I do not believe you. Current nanny of twins. Unless you worked 10 hrs a day I do not believe you spent "hours" outside the house.

It's not hard. I worked 7:30-5, we took a morning walk to the park-played for at least an hour, after nap we were outside again for 1-2 hours. Not every day was as long but we got out every day unless there was some kind of major storm. And yes, I still had time to clean and cook and wipe playroom mats and do kid laundry etc...
Perhaps you need to work on organization and time management?

[Anonymous]

No, a nanny does not have to mop the floor. Are you mad? She sweeps it quickly with brush or wipes with baby wipes, done. If a nanny in a share is told to mop the floor after each meal, I guarantee she quits in about 2 months. It is back breaking, to have nanny to care for 2 kids plus clean your kitchen. Do you mop after every baby meal, OP? I doubt it.

[Anonymous]

The sink is aesthetics but easy to do so ask her. The high chair seat & tray if left messy leads to bigger messes later.

The rest -- leave her alone. Except the toys can be placed in the same spots if you have an easy to use scheme.

How do I know this? I was home with my Irish twins & there was enough to do with out adding on. Spending time with them, changing them, entertaining them, preparing meals for them, etc kept me busy enough. Sure occasionally I would do the other tasks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in shares. Here's my 2 cents.

- After lunch, make sure to rinse all food in the sink into the garbage disposal and run the disposal; give the sink a quick wipe if food is stuck to the edges
This is a reasonable request.

- Make sure to clean the bottom of the high-chair tray and clean the high chair (I've noticed food stuck in the crevices on the bottom of the tray and the high chair looks like it got a quick wipe, but not a full clean)
Most high chairs don't get a "full clean" after every meal (3-4 times a day). So I think if she's doing a quick wipe down, that's adequate. If you want a through clean, that's on you to do (and probably only has to be done once or twice a week).

- Check that food from lunch isn't stuck to the side of the kitchen island; if it is, wipe down
This is a reasonable request.

- If a lot of food got on the floor, wipe/vacuum/mop that area
This is a reasonable request, WITH good materials and flexibility. So, get a Bona mop or similar, and an easy to use dustpan/broom combo, and be aware that whether this is done will depends both on how much food gets on the floor AND how the day is going for her.

- Once a week, clean the play mat in the playroom
Nope. Unreasonable. Occasional tasks like this are on you.

- Once a month, wash toys that can be washed with soap and water; wipe others with toy cleaner
Nope. Unreasonable. Occasional tasks like this are on you. Also - totally unnecessary by the way.

- Overall, help to organize the playroom and keep things consistently in the same spots so the kids can learn where their toys are and where they should be put away (I know they're too young to clean up, but I think it's good to start showing them)
Organizing the playroom is on you. Keeping things consistently in the same spots is potentially reasonable IF all the toys (minus one or two in active use right then) are in their correct spots every morning before she starts work. I would approach this by, on Monday morning, telling her you've reorganized the playroom, and doing a quick walk through of where stuff is. Don't expect 100%, especially the first week, but keep making sure everything is how you want it when she arrives, and she'll learn.

PP just to add - I would not do this all at once. Start with the kitchen stuff. "Hey - I notice some times some food stuck to the island here and in the sides of the sink. If you could wipe that up as needed, that'd be great. You can also run the disposal if there's food in the sink - the switch is here, just make sure you run water while it's going. We've also found Larla is making more of a mess around the high chair lately, so we got this new broom/dustpan and mop here, if she's made a big mess on your watch, you can use these to do a quick spot clean."

Then give it... a month? Or at least a couple weeks. Then present your newly organized playroom and give her a tour.

Right because nannies are too stupid to recognize job creep!