Question about responsibilities - babysitter vs. nanny

[Anonymous]

Hi ladies,

Needed some information - do you take on nanny responsibilities like bathing/showering kids, making dinner, etc. when you do casual babysitting?
Where do you draw the line?

[Anonymous]

Nope- if I'm babysitting it's dinner, play, bed, tidy up quickly

[Anonymous]

It varies. Typically, dinner is takeout/delivery, as it's a 'treat' for the kids.

I don't mind bathing/showering them, because it's a time for them to play and easy on me overall.

If I know something would be very helpful, like emptying the dishwasher, I'll try to do it.

[Anonymous]

I do not want a 14 yr old babysitter bathing my kids. I want them playing with them, at most, microwaving something, and reading them some books and putting them to bed.

A nanny is an adult. A babysitter is a teenager.

[Anonymous]

When I was a Nanny and babysat on the side I did all those things yes. I’d rather do that than sit on the floor playing dinosaurs. Now I’m a parent I don’t expect my sitters to do it. I leave a simple dinner that just needs heating up, my kid is old enough to shower alone. I’ve never asked a sitter to bathe her.

[Anonymous]

I don’t ask sitters to bathe the kids if they are little enough to need that. If they are old enough to do it alone then yes I expect the sitter to send them up or draw the bath for them.

Beyond feeding pizza / heated up food and playing with the kids the main other thing I expect from a sitter is to clean up after whatever messes are made that evening. It drives me nuts when they leave the pizza box open on the counter, plates on the counter, toys lying around still. I did not do this when I sat as a teen.

[Anonymous]

Nannies do not bathe or make dinner most of times, maybe live ins do. They are not your cooks.