Issues with tidyness in PT nanny

[Anonymous]

I am a SAHM to 2 under 3 with DH who works long hours. We found a PT nanny who is able to come one or two mornings a week to give me a break, let me schedule appointments, etc. and she does a weekly Saturday date night for us as well. She is great with the kids, always thinks up fun activities and they love her and I trust her totally to care for them. I also just like her in general; she's a nice person. The ONLY issue is that she is just not naturally tidy. She cleans up after herself and the kids, just not very thoroughly. E.g., if the kids have something crumbly for breakfast, I would sweep pretty much the whole kitchen (small house), and wipe down the chairs and table. She only sweeps right under their chairs. She also just isn't very proactive, so we often end up paying her to sit around during nap times. E.g., I will ask her to fold the kids' laundry during nap and she will fold it, but won't put away any of the stuff that goes downstairs like their jackets and won't carry the basket up with her when she gets them from nap. Do I need to just suck it up or should I be correcting this somehow? Am I asking dor too much? We pay $17 an hour in Vienna.

[Anonymous]

It's not her job to sweep your kitchen, she's sweeping under the chair she used. You hired a nanny not a housekeeper. How long are her shifts? If she's there 10hrs a day (no idea how you structure part time) yes she can sit after she's done child related chores. If she's only there 4 hrs a day you need to be more specific what you want her to do. She's not a mind reader.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. She's here 6-8 hours. The reason I sweep the whole kitchen is because the crumbs etc. always spread across most of the floor. It's not that I want her to clean up other stuff just that she's only getting about 75% of the mess they made at that meal, just to clarify. A better example, recently DD dropped her plate on nanny's watch and nanny wiped what was on the floor but not what had splattered onto the wall and the chair legs etc. even though she had the whole naptime after lunch to tidy up. I think she's just a person who doesn't see mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a SAHM to 2 under 3 with DH who works long hours. We found a PT nanny who is able to come one or two mornings a week to give me a break, let me schedule appointments, etc. and she does a weekly Saturday date night for us as well. She is great with the kids, always thinks up fun activities and they love her and I trust her totally to care for them. I also just like her in general; she's a nice person. The ONLY issue is that she is just not naturally tidy. She cleans up after herself and the kids, just not very thoroughly. E.g., if the kids have something crumbly for breakfast, I would sweep pretty much the whole kitchen (small house), and wipe down the chairs and table. She only sweeps right under their chairs. She also just isn't very proactive, so we often end up paying her to sit around during nap times. E.g., I will ask her to fold the kids' laundry during nap and she will fold it, but won't put away any of the stuff that goes downstairs like their jackets and won't carry the basket up with her when she gets them from nap. Do I need to just suck it up or should I be correcting this somehow? Am I asking dor too much? We pay $17 an hour in Vienna.

Yes,you asking so much she's ofcorse have to light clean after the kids massy,but not othe'r's chores.
Please pay more or hire a housekeeper.

[Anonymous]

Even though she "sits around" during nap time, please understand that it's not like she's on a dedicated break.

She cannot make a Starbucks run or grab take-out for lunch.
She is on the clock & has dedicated HER time to childcare, not as a maid or laundress.

Plus your children could wake up anytime and if so, she needs to tend to them.

It sounds like you are merely trying to stretch your $$dollar which I discourage you to do OP lest you lose a wonderful Nanny.

[Anonymous]

It's a tough one as you don't want to make so much of an issue out of it that you end up losing an otherwise fantastic nanny.
It is her job to tidy up after herself and that in itself isn't too much to ask. I think you just need to spell it out to her what you want her to do but in a nice way.

[Anonymous]

It's too much to ask of a PT nanny. She sounds lazy though not cleaning up after her messes but that's what you get with part-time help it's just some extra income babysitting

[Anonymous]

I'd suck it up if she's good with the kids. I think your expectations are on the high end for what is essentially a babysitter.

[Anonymous]

If it's truly this limited list: sweep whole floor, pick up toys, fold laundry, then give it to her and explain what you want. If you want someone to look around and see what needs to be done, though, I do think your expectations are high for a very part time person. Your pay is fine, but not exceptional, and while you could totally expect this kind of work from a full time person to whom you are paying a living wage, you just aren't going to get that from someone part time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's truly this limited list: sweep whole floor, pick up toys, fold laundry, then give it to her and explain what you want. If you want someone to look around and see what needs to be done, though, I do think your expectations are high for a very part time person. Your pay is fine, but not exceptional, and while you could totally expect this kind of work from a full time person to whom you are paying a living wage, you just aren't going to get that from someone part time.

Thanks. Makes sense. I think part of it is that I try to always schedule her during naptime, because I miss my kids when I don't spend the morning with them and because she can't drive them so they are trapped in the house. Sounds like I need to either come to terms with naptime being unused time or I need to schedule her for mornings

[Anonymous]

Wait! if most of her time at your house is during naps, then spell out what you want her to do. even if she's there 6 hours, then she is with them 3 hours and naps are three hours, so just spell it out: do laundry, put away the stuff that goes in downstairs closets while they are asleep, carry upstairs once kids wake up.

Also, while they are napping, please sweep the entire kitchen floor, it's a small room so the crumbs go everywhere! And then understand that she will also read or whatever the rest of the nap time, as this isn't her home to keep up with. So she isn't going to look and see what needs to get done. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait! if most of her time at your house is during naps, then spell out what you want her to do. even if she's there 6 hours, then she is with them 3 hours and naps are three hours, so just spell it out: do laundry, put away the stuff that goes in downstairs closets while they are asleep, carry upstairs once kids wake up.

Also, while they are napping, please sweep the entire kitchen floor, it's a small room so the crumbs go everywhere! And then understand that she will also read or whatever the rest of the nap time, as this isn't her home to keep up with. So she isn't going to look and see what needs to get done. Period.

Thanks. It sounds like I shouldn't expect her to do anything I don't specifically ask, but that I can expect her to leave things as clean as she found them, even if that takes some guidance to get to that point.

[Anonymous]

From reading this thread, I wonder if you should advertise for a nanny/housekeeper, pay more like $25/hr, and then interview a ton of people until you find the right person. I guess I am in the minority, but I would find it very frustrating to have to spell out things like "wipe the spaghetti sauce off the wall of baby splashes while eating," or "separate laundry by child so it is easy to put away." I understand that it isn't the nanny's home, but these should be pretty basic things for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From reading this thread, I wonder if you should advertise for a nanny/housekeeper, pay more like $25/hr, and then interview a ton of people until you find the right person. I guess I am in the minority, but I would find it very frustrating to have to spell out things like "wipe the spaghetti sauce off the wall of baby splashes while eating," or "separate laundry by child so it is easy to put away." I understand that it isn't the nanny's home, but these should be pretty basic things for anyone.

Instead of this, I would say what you said here: You want her during nap time, but that means the job will include a few child related housekeeping tasks. If that's not something she wants to do, then that's fine. I'm sure you will easily find someone else who will happily agree to do those tasks and the babysitting for $17/hr.

[Anonymous]

Your degree of cleanliness will never be equal to that of someone else. If you are that concerned with tydiness just hire a good cleaning service once a week. I am a sitter and pretty clean at my home. I wouldn't clean your walls and such if I am working for you. Just teach your kids to be less messy, shouldn't be the sitters responsibility or concern. You are with them majority of time.