Nanny expectations re: food prep
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Anonymous
| Does your nanny prepare meals for your child? If so, what does "prepare" entail exactly? Our nanny will give our (2-year-old) DS things she finds in the fridge/freezer- a typical breakfast will be Cheerios with milk and a banana. Typical lunch is yogurt, frozen chicken nuggets, and fruit. I don't really have an issue with any of the food she gives him (although she tends to give a lot of "grab and go" snacks- goldfish crackers, fruit that I've cut up and placed in the fridge, cheese sticks, etc.)- but it seems like she gives him kind of a random assortment of stuff throughout the day. I'm curious to see what other families do- should I be expecting my nanny to "cook" more (even eggs, grilled cheese, roasted veggies - simple stuff), or is it my responsibility to prepare all the foods and tell nanny exactly what to feed DS each day? I don't want to micromanage her, but I also feel like she could be putting in a little more effort in the kitchen... |
Anonymous
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Omg, everyone is different. What are your options, Op?
Want a new nanny? |
Anonymous
OP here- um, what? I'm posting because I am curious to see how other families handle meal prep, so I can get a sense of whether I am being unreasonable in wishing my nanny would do more in the way of cooking for my child. I hope this clarifies your apparent confusion regarding my OP. |
Anonymous
If you didn't discuss this in advance, and she doesn't like "cooking", then yes, you are unreasonable. |
Anonymous
| Our contract specified our nanny would prepare DC's meals, but it took me months to actually ask her to do this. I eventually did, and it entails cutting up fruit, veggies, making sandwiches or quesadillas, heating meat, grains, rice, beans, etc. that are already cooked and just need warming, and defrosting frozen veggies. I personally don't want to ask the nanny to cook anything complicated for DC because I would rather she be engaging with DC doing activities. I also worry about her inadvertently starting a fire (not that she's clumsy or forgetful, but we have a gas stove and I'd rather avoid the risk altogether). I started by leaving a list each day of what DC should have for snacks and meals. Then I moved to leaving a list each week of what was available for DC to eat. The nanny writes down each day what DC eats, not quantities, just the foods. For example, ham, quinoa, and peas for lunch. I am very particular about some things that DC not eat, and our nanny knows this. For example, gold fish only at play group if other kids are eating sugary snacks. Anyway, this is how it works for us. |
Anonymous
| Depends on what the scope of your position is. Do you want a nanny who manages your child's nutritional agenda? Do you prefer someone who can follow simple directions you leave her (ex: steam broccoli and put chicken in the toaster oven for 20 minutes)? Or, do you prefer someone who can make do with what you have time to supply, and some days that might be only a tomatoes and can of chickpeas? Also, what level of food prep support are you paying for? |
Anonymous
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We've always covered this in the interview to see what a nanny is willing to do, and the answers have ranged from "I don't cook at all" to "I can make things at home and bring them in". Honestly, it may depend on your nanny and what she feels comfortable doing.
Our nanny prepares lunch and dinner for 3 kids. During the interview, she made it clear that she's not confident about her cooking skills so we try to cook almost all meals in advance and have her just heat up leftovers for the kids. She's also taken the initiative and cooked some things even when there were leftovers, so I know that she's willing to cook. She's comfortable cutting up fruit, making a salad every day for the kids, making sandwiches (PBJ or grilled cheese), cooking things like frozen chicken tenders, pasta, steaming broccoli, preparing white or yellow rice and beans, sausages, etc. She does put some thought into what the kids are eating and will adjust accordingly if one of them is having digestive issues. |
Anonymous
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What do you have in your fridge and cabinets?
If you only have cheerios, why are you getting so upset. Do you have items for pancakes, eggs, lunch items, left over dinners that could be lunch items. |
Anonymous
| Nanny here. I love to cook and make all food for my charges from scratch (and we go grocery shopping weekly so that I can get anything I need to make their meals). I use nutritional guidelines from the AAP to plan their meals. |
Anonymous
Sounds good to me. I bet your employer is paying you more than OP is paying her person. |
Anonymous
OP here. I suppose pay is certainly relevant to this discussion! We pay $22/hr for one child. Does that change anyone's answer? I feel better after reading some of these replies- and this isn't something we clearly discussed or put in the contract, so I think I'm not going to push it too much. |
Anonymous
If you want to, you can offer a few dollars more in exchange for the extra work you want her to do. But put it clearly in your written agreement. You can even do a 30 trial with the extra pay, so you can see if it's worth it to you. |
Anonymous
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We have had two nannies (in 5 years) and they have been responsible for preparing the kids' meals throughout.
Sometimes this means reheating things I've made, or leftovers, or whatever. And sometimes it means they're just chopping up veggies and assembling sandwiches, and quite frequently it means they are cooking wholesome meals from scratch (now that includes grocery shopping.) I've given the nannies pretty free rein over what they make, as long as it's healthy (not excessive sugar, salt, fried, etc...) and essentially whole food - not lots of boxed artificial stuff. I encourage them to introduce the kids to new foods, spices, and the like, and I love when the nanny teaches me new things. (I aspire to a passable pernil!) I knew I wanted this from the start so we included it in the job description and talked about it when interviewing. Honestly, our first nanny was a far superior cook and for our current nanny this is her weakest area. But it works overall and is a huge help to me. |
Anonymous
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I agree that this is something that you have to clarify at hiring. I'm a nanny that enjoys cooking but I've had parents that range widely in expectations.
I've had some parents that cook for their kids and I just heat up leftovers. I've had parents that will buy fruit and such for me to cut up, frozen biggest and meatballs, things like that. And I've had some parents who really gave me the reins and I could give them a grocery list, and on Mondays I would do some actual cooking for the week (homemade meatballs, muffins and quickbreads, casseroles, roasted veggies). Obviously, the more intense the cooking expected the higher the rate I would expect. What would be irritating is a family that hires me, says nothing about cooking, then expects scratch made meals. Also, if you want nanny to cook, have food for her to cook with. If your fridge is empty and all you have is Cheerios and bananas, what else am I supposed to feed your kid? |
Anonymous
Are you serious? OP is already paying well over market rate for, what sounds like, a mediocre nanny. Why should she offer MORE? OP, you aren't asking for anything out of the ordinary or over the top here. Many nannies do meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking from scratch as part of their daily activities and do not expect to be compensated extra for it. |