What to do when family visits?

[Anonymous]

First time MB here- our nanny just started this week. We have family coming to visit in a few weeks, and they will be in town M-F, when nanny works. It's their first time meeting our infant. Should I tell nanny we don't need her those days (but still pay her, obviously), offer her those days as paid days off (i.e., give her the choice of whether she comes or not), or just have her work her normal schedule? If she comes to work as usual, I assume my family should bring her on any outings (museums, lunch, etc.), right?

[Anonymous]

Well if you ask her not to work, you should definitely pay her. I think if you gave anyone the choice of coming to work or being paid for the day off, they would choose a day off. I would probably give the time off, if your family is capable of handling your infant. If not, it might be nice to have nanny there to help, she could even work half days to give your family a break. And as for the outings it's up to you - you could have nanny go to help with baby, have her stay home to do laundry/wash bottles/take a break, or let her go home early. Sounds like you are a very thoughtful MB!

[Anonymous]

I have school age kids. When my inlaws visit I give the nanny as much of the time off as possible, with pay, but not the whole time as we still need a bit of help.

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking the best would be to have her work a few hours each day. If she normally does baby related cleaning you could have her do that and help out a bit for half a day and then she could go early. I'm sure she would be very grateful!

[Anonymous]

Grandma came into town 2 weeks after I started working with a new family. I got one day off, and got to leave ~45 mins early the other days. I would have loved to have more time off, as it felt silly to have two capable adults playing with a 2 year old for 9 hours a day, but I suspect grandma was there partially to report on my nanny skills.

[Anonymous]

When I didn't trust the grandparents to take care of the baby I had the nanny come and told her SHE was in charge and told the grandparents the nanny already knew the baby's routine so she was in charge.

When I trusted the other grandparents to take care of the baby I gave the nanny paid time off and just had her come in for half a day every other day when the old people were getting tired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grandma came into town 2 weeks after I started working with a new family. I got one day off, and got to leave ~45 mins early the other days. I would have loved to have more time off, as it felt silly to have two capable adults playing with a 2 year old for 9 hours a day, but I suspect grandma was there partially to report on my nanny skills.

Or, maybe they were concerned about grandma.

[Anonymous]

So strange to pay an hourly employee who isn't working.

[Anonymous]

You know your family better than we do, but my recommendation is that you have your nanny come in for a few hours each day. Taking care of a baby is exhausting, and I suspect your family will appreciate the break (and I'm sure your nanny will be happy to have some time off).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grandma came into town 2 weeks after I started working with a new family. I got one day off, and got to leave ~45 mins early the other days. I would have loved to have more time off, as it felt silly to have two capable adults playing with a 2 year old for 9 hours a day, but I suspect grandma was there partially to report on my nanny skills.

Or, maybe they were concerned about grandma.

Doubtful, considering she is who they call in from out of town in case nanny is unable to work.

It doesn't matter if she was there partially to do that, I don't blame them. I'd want a good week of observation if someone knew was watching my kid, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So strange to pay an hourly employee who isn't working.

Strange, until your nanny who has gone a week without pay because your family decided to take a vacation or has her paycheck cut because you took a Friday off, puts in her two weeks notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So strange to pay an hourly employee who isn't working.

Strange, until your nanny who has gone a week without pay because your family decided to take a vacation or has her paycheck cut because you took a Friday off, puts in her two weeks notice.

+1

Your nanny works because she needs a paycheck. If she gets random days/weeks off she won't have money to pay her bills. And she'll leave. We have a guaranteed income, why shouldn't she? (obviously, none of us are "guaranteed" - if we screw up we can expect something bad to happen, and so should it happen with nanny, but you all know what I mean - my job doesn't just say "oh, we don't need you next week, take an unpaid week off next week." If it did, then I'd be looking for a job elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Time off with pay is standard and expected. Your nanny doesn't need your family nosing around while she is there.

[Anonymous]

I would have her work a few hours a day to help the family out as needed and then send her home early.

[Anonymous]

If you've never done this before, start out assuming she'll work her regular schedule and then see how it goes. Guests sometimes surprise you by having "plans" they neglected to mention which conflict with the baby's schedule, or turn out to not be all that interested in childcare. On the other hand, maybe they'll want to so it all.

I would prepare her, though! I have a brand new nanny (started Monday), and for some reason both sets of grandparents thought this week and next week would be the best time to visit. I know it's going to be stressful for her. I have three kids of various ages/schedules, though, so I know we'll still need her. We'll probably let her go home early some days.