Pros & Cons to Live-in Nanny

[Anonymous]

We have a newly refinished one-bedroom basement apartment (full kitchen, full bath, laundry, sep entrance) that we always imagined we'd use for a live-in nanny when the time came. Well, the time is coming in 2020 and we're debating the pros and cons to a nanny share where the nanny lives in the basement unit. We currently have a tenant in the basement, so the financial aspect of losing rental income is a concern. Would love to hear from parents and nannies in regard to financial and lifestyle benefits of having a nanny live with us versus a standard nanny share.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Just a thought....

If you already have a tenant renting the basement, have you spoken to him/her about possibly evicting them next year?

I would give them a heads up sooner rather than later.

Sorry to go off topic.

[Anonymous]

Unless you have enough hours to cover that you NEED a live-in nanny, the live-out nanny share would be better for you.

[Anonymous]

Our tenant is one of my husband's good friends. He's not currently on a lease, but we'd definitely give him ample notice if we chose to go the live-in route. We won't need a nanny longer than 830-530, so maybe PP is right that I am better off with a live-out share.

[Anonymous]

A live-in nanny can mean that you have backup handy at odd hours, may potentially have more flexibility in hours, and can perhaps find someone for whom the live-in approach has great appeal. We had a former nanny who loves live-in positions - she wants to have the "part of the family" kind of feeling, and loves to not have to worry about commuting in weather, etc...

A live-in nanny also means your employee is always there. It sounds like you would have the ability to let his/her space be really fully separate - which is great. You want to be able t retain separation for everyone's sake. Should the nanny not work out you are left with the nightmare of having someone you've let go still living in your house, and/or having to manage an eviction along with the end of employment. That is assuming a fairly worst case scenario of course, but it's worth thinking about.

[Anonymous]

We strongly considered a live-in and ultimately decided not to. We wanted more distance, more privacy, easier to maintain professional boundaries, etc. Plus when we were considering it, we'd already had our nanny for over a year and could look at how many hours per week we asked for and saw they didn't really fluctuate except when we traveled.

However, when we WERE considering it, my husband the lawyer insisted we would charge the nanny rent, rather than say "you only pay $200 a month because we pay you for childcare."

[Anonymous]

If you work in a profession where you have to be on call regularly during weird hours or start working very early such as surgeon etc, a live in nanny who can start at 5.30 am daily , help get kids to school etc , is precious.
Especially if you job have zero flexibility, you cannot afford having nanny who shows up fifteen minutes late occasionally or car breakdown etc.


If you only need nanny from 8-5 , then I think live in nanny is unnecessary. .

[Anonymous]

We have a long time live in nanny. I debated very long and hard about whether or not to do it and on balance, it has been great.

The pros are the nanny is always there - never calls in sick or can't make it due to snow. She has helped in 2 emergencies over the past many years that were sort of outside her hours (which we later paid her for). She is flexible, she knows my kids, she is good with them and helps with many things that another nanny might not since she also lives in my house.

Cons are that she lives with us - another person around and she takes up my guest room, which I can't use for guests.

I would say on balance it's easy and we did a really really good job upfront about rules and expectations. She is also a pretty private and introverted person so she isn't super chatty all the time. If she wanted to talk all the time, I think I would go crazy.

She is very respectful and it's worked out well for us and the kids and her.

[Anonymous]

Mutual respect for boundaries is key.

[Anonymous]

Unless the nanny is homeless then there are no pros for her, only you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a long time live in nanny. I debated very long and hard about whether or not to do it and on balance, it has been great.

The pros are the nanny is always there - never calls in sick or can't make it due to snow. She has helped in 2 emergencies over the past many years that were sort of outside her hours (which we later paid her for). She is flexible, she knows my kids, she is good with them and helps with many things that another nanny might not since she also lives in my house.

Cons are that she lives with us - another person around and she takes up my guest room, which I can't use for guests.

I would say on balance it's easy and we did a really really good job upfront about rules and expectations. She is also a pretty private and introverted person so she isn't super chatty all the time. If she wanted to talk all the time, I think I would go crazy.

She is very respectful and it's worked out well for us and the kids and her.

You sound resentful that she takes up your guest room and you can't use it for guest not to mention ungrateful.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I'm not ungrateful - and by the way, she isn't doing me a favor, she's an employee (albeit a very good one). We pay her.

The OP asked for pros and cons and giving up my guest room really is a con. I have a lot of out of town family and no guest room.

On balance, they come to visit each only about once a year and I don't think it's worth not having a live in for that, but it's still a bummer. It's a con when I'm discussing pros and cons.

But the pros outweigh the cons in this case, which is why I have a live in nanny. Not that many people have live ins and we are happy with our situation. I assume our nanny is happy too or she would have left years ago.