How do you deal with differences in heat/AC preferences?

[Anonymous]

We tend to put on a sweater or be in shorts/tshirt or perhaps be only 90% comfortable instead of 100% comfortable at all times rather than running the AC or heat at every opportunity. Of course, it's on most of the summer, but we haven't turned it on yet this year for example. We have lots of ceiling fans going and windows open.

Our nanny on the other hand would keep the AC on full blast all day (and not turn it up when they're out for the day). How do you handle differences in heating/cooling preferences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tend to put on a sweater or be in shorts/tshirt or perhaps be only 90% comfortable instead of 100% comfortable at all times rather than running the AC or heat at every opportunity. Of course, it's on most of the summer, but we haven't turned it on yet this year for example. We have lots of ceiling fans going and windows open.

Our nanny on the other hand would keep the AC on full blast all day (and not turn it up when they're out for the day). How do you handle differences in heating/cooling preferences?

Would you prefer that your nanny take off clothes when she is too hot instead of turning on the A/C?
How many hours is she in your home? Let her set the air at a comfortable temperature while she is there and ask her to turn it up when she leaves. Don't start micromanaging the thermostat. It won't end well.

[Anonymous]

Let people do what they need to do.

[Anonymous]

We have this issue in our house as well, although sometimes it's me and our nanny united against my husband.

Basically the nanny's desires trump ours during the day - she's the one there w/ the kids. If she wants AC or heat she can adjust the thermostats, fans, windows, etc... as she wishes. We reset when we're home if necessary.

We tend to heat/cool primarily only the main areas we're using (so bedrooms at night, family room/kitchen during the day, etc...) while she takes a "whole house" approach. But she's wrangling our twins so we figure we want her to be comfortable and as engaged and available for them as possible. So her comfort (assuming it's reasonable for the kids also) comes first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have this issue in our house as well, although sometimes it's me and our nanny united against my husband.

Basically the nanny's desires trump ours during the day - she's the one there w/ the kids. If she wants AC or heat she can adjust the thermostats, fans, windows, etc... as she wishes. We reset when we're home if necessary.

We tend to heat/cool primarily only the main areas we're using (so bedrooms at night, family room/kitchen during the day, etc...) while she takes a "whole house" approach. But she's wrangling our twins so we figure we want her to be comfortable and as engaged and available for them as possible. So her comfort (assuming it's reasonable for the kids also) comes first.

Thanks PP. I'm the OP. this is the approach I'd like to convince my husband to take!

[Anonymous]

Tough one. On the one hand, your employee has the right to feel comfortable while she's working. On the other hand, you want to make sure your children are comfortable, plus it's your home and you pay the bills. Maybe you can compromise? Explain to her what your preferences are and what you feel is necessary for your kids, and maybe agree on a temperature that the house can be set to during her workday, and at other times like when she is out it should be the temperature that you prefer/turned off.

We have a trial live-in nanny for 5 days who could not seem to regulate her body temperature and kept on cranking up the AC so that it was freezing in the house and the kids were really uncomfortable. She was in the coolest bedroom in the house and complained it was too hot, turned out she was covering herself in a huge duvet plus blanket in the middle of the summer and then adjusting the thermostat so that everyone else was freezing. We asked her to stop adjusting it several times and even put a note right over it, but she kept on fiddling with it. She was a complete nutjob in other ways too.

[Anonymous]

PP - sorry, that should say we *had* a trial live-in nanny ... she's long gone, thanks goodness!

[Anonymous]

I fear that monitoring your household's climate while you're at work is a little OTT. It'd be fine to offer her some guidelines such as, please don't turn the AC on lower than X, please turn it to X when you're leaving the house, please make sure if you have the AC on that all the windows are closed, etc. but otherwise she needs to be able to manage the temperature that she and the kids are comfortable with.

[Anonymous]

MB likes the house to be a sauna. Ahe even puts the heat on in the summer!!! The minute she leaves for work I crank up the AC.

[Anonymous]

OP - I'm the one you quoted as having the approach you'd like to convince your husband to use. What worked for us was to negotiate a range within which we all agreed we could feel comfortable (for us it's usually 70-74 year round). My husband was ok w/ this level of variation, and my nanny and I both feel that gives us a couple of degrees to warm or cool as we individually like. This is also a nice reasonable range for the kids.

Coming at it from that angle (rather than "she always wants it freezing...) seemed to take some of the individual judgment out of it and put it in nice quantifiable terms for my husband.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Another point that you may not have thought about is that she may feel hotter during the day because she is running around the house, playing and chasing after your kids! I know that's the case for me (nanny) and my MB jokes about how I'm always hot, etc, but she knows that that is part of the reason why. When you're home at night/just relaxing, your body temp. is bound to be a lot cooler than if you were there in the day time, running around/up and down stairs, etc.

I even get cooler just sitting down for 20-30 min at nap time! Seriously, sometimes I'll even have to put on a sweater!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another point that you may not have thought about is that she may feel hotter during the day because she is running around the house, playing and chasing after your kids! I know that's the case for me (nanny) and my MB jokes about how I'm always hot, etc, but she knows that that is part of the reason why. When you're home at night/just relaxing, your body temp. is bound to be a lot cooler than if you were there in the day time, running around/up and down stairs, etc.

I even get cooler just sitting down for 20-30 min at nap time! Seriously, sometimes I'll even have to put on a sweater!

This is so true!

[Anonymous]

I've always been advised to adjust the thermostat to make myself comfortable. I'm not going crazy with it.

The only time it's an issue is during spring. I have allergies and close all the windows when I arrive. They prefer fresh air when it's nice. I do too, but breathing is much nicer.

[Anonymous]

Compromise. Pick a temp between the two and set the thermostat for that temp.

[Anonymous]

Nanny's choice during work hours, within reason.

If she likes it really hot/cold, consider a portable AC unit or room heater.