reasonable for nanny to do grocery shopping?

[Anonymous]

I am moving and looking into hiring a nanny and a housekeeper, and I am trying to consider duties for both. I haven't hired anyone yet, and I want to make sure that everyone is going into this with clear expectations.

I have four children, ages 5, 6, 3, and 1. In the past, my housekeeper has done the grocery shopping, but starting this fall the older two will be in kindergarten and first grade, and my three year old will be in preschool 10 hours/wk. I was thinking of asking our nanny to do the grocery shopping once a week during preschool hours. Obviously, I would provide a list, but I would expect that she could get what she wants to eat and make for the kids lunches.

Also, I would likely have the housekeeper, not the nanny, do all of the laundry. Laundry for four kids seems like a lot to ask of someone who will also be looking after a 1 y/o and 3 y/o most of the day.

[Anonymous]

If you pay them well enough, sure!

[Anonymous]

Our nanny and housekeeper both do grocery shopping depending on who has time that week. They also both cook - we have a few go-to recipes and take turns. I definitely think it's reasonable, especially since during your child's school hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you pay them well enough, sure!

Would you pay an additional amount the weeks that she does the grocery shopping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny and housekeeper both do grocery shopping depending on who has time that week. They also both cook - we have a few go-to recipes and take turns. I definitely think it's reasonable, especially since during your child's school hours.

That's awesome. Do they just figure it out between each other?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny and housekeeper both do grocery shopping depending on who has time that week. They also both cook - we have a few go-to recipes and take turns. I definitely think it's reasonable, especially since during your child's school hours.

That's awesome. Do they just figure it out between each other?

They run the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you pay them well enough, sure!

Would you pay an additional amount the weeks that she does the grocery shopping?

No, instead of cutting back hours or restarting with someone new, you keep the relatively same hours but add housekeeping to the hours when the kids are in school. Our nanny loves to do our grocery shopping with the little one and has lots of ideas and knows what we like, by now.
When all our kids started school we kept her weekly salary the same but added the housekeeping bit- groceries, she liked to water plants, cleaning and laundry, meal prep or cooking and driving kids to their activities. childcare was 2-6pm. As long as the housekeeping and errands were done before 2pm, she could start or manage that however she wished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you pay them well enough, sure!

Would you pay an additional amount the weeks that she does the grocery shopping?

No, otherwise just do peapod.

[Anonymous]

I always do the grocery shopping for my charge but never the whole family. I don't think I would be comfortable doing it -- for one thing even with just one charge he has limited patience for the grocery store. And for another thing, it would feel like a housekeeping job duty.

I would much prefer to do all four kids' laundry. Maybe that is just me...

[Anonymous]

Nanny here. For my current family, I do groceries once a week, another errand of some kind (Costco, Target, Stride Rite, post office, etc.) once a week and all the kids' laundry and cooking for kids (breakfast, lunch, snacks) and family dinners 5 night per week, all with twin (2 year old) charges in tow. You just need to find the right person and with those ages that means somebody who is open and flexible. Yes, you should list all responsibilities, but you should also interview for the "all-hands-on-deck" attitude.

[Anonymous]

We put it in our contract that our manny will do several errands for us during the week that may not necessarily relate directly to the kids. We send him to Costco about once a month, and grocery shopping once a week (or arrange for him to be at the house when we're having groceries delivered). We do not pay him extra for that. He uses our car when he goes to Costco or the regular supermarket, or he uses his monthly bus pass which we pay for anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always do the grocery shopping for my charge but never the whole family. I don't think I would be comfortable doing it -- for one thing even with just one charge he has limited patience for the grocery store. And for another thing, it would feel like a housekeeping job duty.

I would much prefer to do all four kids' laundry. Maybe that is just me...

+1 No, our nanny is the same as yours. I don't want our nanny doing any household chores beyond the immediate care of my kids either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always do the grocery shopping for my charge but never the whole family. I don't think I would be comfortable doing it -- for one thing even with just one charge he has limited patience for the grocery store. And for another thing, it would feel like a housekeeping job duty.

I would much prefer to do all four kids' laundry. Maybe that is just me...

+1 No, our nanny is the same as yours. I don't want our nanny doing any household chores beyond the immediate care of my kids either.

I never understood this. I don't ask our nanny to do any household chores, even if they are kid related. Sure she does the dishes she and he use, but why would you part out all this extra stuff just to make two people do it? If I am going grocery shopping I buy stuff for my son too. If I am doing laundry I can do my sons. When I load the dishwasher I will include all my sons things too.

It always shocks me to see people saying they leave all these jobs for the nanny, I guess to make it feel like they are getting their monies worth or something. I want nanny focusing on DS 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always do the grocery shopping for my charge but never the whole family. I don't think I would be comfortable doing it -- for one thing even with just one charge he has limited patience for the grocery store. And for another thing, it would feel like a housekeeping job duty.

I would much prefer to do all four kids' laundry. Maybe that is just me...

+1 No, our nanny is the same as yours. I don't want our nanny doing any household chores beyond the immediate care of my kids either.

I never understood this. I don't ask our nanny to do any household chores, even if they are kid related. Sure she does the dishes she and he use, but why would you part out all this extra stuff just to make two people do it? If I am going grocery shopping I buy stuff for my son too. If I am doing laundry I can do my sons. When I load the dishwasher I will include all my sons things too.

It always shocks me to see people saying they leave all these jobs for the nanny, I guess to make it feel like they are getting their monies worth or something. I want nanny focusing on DS 100%.

First, PP here and the nanny. I prefer to do my charges laundry and grocery shopping. For grocery shopping, I like to balance his meals and make sure he is getting adequate nutrition. I shop with him with him and make a learning experience out of it for him.

The laundry is just a personal preference. My employers have no clue how to get stains out of his clothes and I refuse to take a child in public looking unkempt. Cooking for my change and doing his laundry are what I do when he is napping -- otherwise I would just be sitting there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always do the grocery shopping for my charge but never the whole family. I don't think I would be comfortable doing it -- for one thing even with just one charge he has limited patience for the grocery store. And for another thing, it would feel like a housekeeping job duty.

I would much prefer to do all four kids' laundry. Maybe that is just me...

+1 No, our nanny is the same as yours. I don't want our nanny doing any household chores beyond the immediate care of my kids either.

I never understood this. I don't ask our nanny to do any household chores, even if they are kid related. Sure she does the dishes she and he use, but why would you part out all this extra stuff just to make two people do it? If I am going grocery shopping I buy stuff for my son too. If I am doing laundry I can do my sons. When I load the dishwasher I will include all my sons things too.

It always shocks me to see people saying they leave all these jobs for the nanny, I guess to make it feel like they are getting their monies worth or something. I want nanny focusing on DS 100%.

First, PP here and the nanny. I prefer to do my charges laundry and grocery shopping. For grocery shopping, I like to balance his meals and make sure he is getting adequate nutrition. I shop with him with him and make a learning experience out of it for him.

The laundry is just a personal preference. My employers have no clue how to get stains out of his clothes and I refuse to take a child in public looking unkempt. Cooking for my change and doing his laundry are what I do when he is napping -- otherwise I would just be sitting there.

So that is what people mean when they say nanny as mom? I never noticed this before. That is really depressing for that family. Thank you PP for the information and viewpoint.