Nanny does very little work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have some feedback for you, and please take it the way it is intended. You are not a good candidate for nanny care. Not because you don't know "what a professional nanny" is, not because you "don't value good childcare" or any other silliness, but for a completely different reason that's obvious to me. Your kids are not under the care of your nanny for long enough to justify her continued employment. From your account of a typical day, it seems that all your nanny does is 1) drop them at school first thing in the morning, 2) feed the little one lunch and put him down for a nap, and 3) pick up the older one and play with them for an hour before you get back home. In their day, there is simply very little time to do anything other than ensure the physical needs of your children (food, sleep) and errands (drop off, pick up). Your nanny has no opportunity to take them to classes, playdates, park etc. - most of their educational needs are currently met by their school. She doesn't want to do anything other than nannying, and she's entitled to feel this way, but as an extension of that, in your particular situation, she gets to sit on her ass for five hours a day, to which she is not entitled. But obviously, for her, it's a sweet gig. So there's that.

On the other hand, you clearly have a need for competent household help with errands (drop off, pick up), cooking, laundry, organization etc., and your children's schedule provides more than ample time to get these things done. If I were you, I would hire a household assistant who doesn't mind drop off/pick up and playing with your kids for an hour before you get home among her other housekeeping duties. This person is not a nanny because the majority of her duties aren't nannying, they are housekeeping. There is no shame in this, it is what it is.

+1

Can you do morning dropoff?

Then maybe you can get just an afternoon sitter. Or maybe look into an Au pair?

MB here, agreeing w/ these posters and the other one who said you need a different person with a different job description. You should let the current nanny go, rewrite the job description to reflect what you really need and want today, and look for someone in the same pay range you're currently offering. I think there would be people who would find this job and compensation attractive.

Good luck.

Where?

[Anonymous]

Care.com
Sittercity.com

College students

[Anonymous]

I would add neighborhood listserves to the list, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would add neighborhood listserves to the list, too.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, we all want Alice, but no one here can find that dear sweet lady who does it all, -with a smile!

There is a whole range of providers between the warm-body, DCUM, nanny-princess types and Alice. Everyone I know, including myself, who has kept a nanny for more than a year or two has found someone who goes well beyond basic child-minding and doesn't trumpet self-made rules about what nannies do and don't do. The new parents who ended up with someone who did nothing of value while the kids napped all canned the nanny after a year or two, sometimes lying about plans to put the children in daycare or have the mother SAHM.

Some parents (not you), feel that excellent childcare is something of "value". Obviously, they are the ones who respect childcare as a "real" job. You, on the other hand, seem to see your child unworthy of the full attention of a professional. Now, before you throw another toddler temper tantrum, that doesn't mean nanny "can't" do anything else.

It does mean, that I as an adult woman, shall determine what else I shall do. Now, again, before you get bent out of shape, that's just how I operate. You'd be wasting your money on a professional, so don't bother. You're the type who wants a "nanny" to just obey your random orders.

Btw, you do know, that's not a nanny, don't you?

How exactly does your refusal to take direction from an employer make you a professional? How exactly is sitting on the couch for five hours a day providing "excellent childcare" or utilizing the "full attention of a professional?"

I expect my nanny to provide excellent childcare. I expect her to be a professional who gives her full attention to my children. I expect her to take direction from me in addition to using her own judgment where I have not specified my preferences. My children are worthy of all this and more.

I also expect my nanny to take an hour or so break and use the rest of her downtime to assist with household and child-related chores so that I too can provide excellent childcare when I'm home, as opposed to doing a million chores while the kids entertain themselves so the nanny can enjoy her five hours of couch-sitting each day. Being a professional nanny and being a diligent worker are not mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who "sits on the couch for five hours" isn't a nanny. Simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who "sits on the couch for five hours" isn't a nanny. Simple.

I disagree .
I work as a live in nanny 7am to 9 pm mon- fri. The children are in school from 8:30-3:30. I get home from dropping them off around 9 and leave to pick then up at 3. I have 6 hrs I'm paid for where my only job is to do laundry and tidy up the dishes and any other child mess. The house I work in is spotless a housekeeper comes in 3 times a week. During those 6 hrs I sleep, go tanning, run my own errands and do my own thing. My mb might ask me to go to the post office or grocery shopping but that's about it. I'm a great nanny and I do my job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who "sits on the couch for five hours" isn't a nanny. Simple.

I disagree .
I work as a live in nanny 7am to 9 pm mon- fri. The children are in school from 8:30-3:30. I get home from dropping them off around 9 and leave to pick then up at 3. I have 6 hrs I'm paid for where my only job is to do laundry and tidy up the dishes and any other child mess. The house I work in is spotless a housekeeper comes in 3 times a week. During those 6 hrs I sleep, go tanning, run my own errands and do my own thing. My mb might ask me to go to the post office or grocery shopping but that's about it. I'm a great nanny and I do my job.

It doesn't sound like you sit on the couch for five hours, and you do sound like a great nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who "sits on the couch for five hours" isn't a nanny. Simple.

I disagree .
I work as a live in nanny 7am to 9 pm mon- fri. The children are in school from 8:30-3:30. I get home from dropping them off around 9 and leave to pick then up at 3. I have 6 hrs I'm paid for where my only job is to do laundry and tidy up the dishes and any other child mess. The house I work in is spotless a housekeeper comes in 3 times a week. During those 6 hrs I sleep, go tanning, run my own errands and do my own thing. My mb might ask me to go to the post office or grocery shopping but that's about it. I'm a great nanny and I do my job.

It doesn't sound like you sit on the couch for five hours, and you do sound like a great nanny.

+1. Presumably you don't wait until the children get home from school to do the laundry and dishes. That's the difference between you (a good nanny) and OP's nanny (not a good nanny).

[Anonymous]

I don't think you can be a good nanny with 6 hours of nothing to do but go tanning. I mean..reallly...you go tanning while being paid?!?! I just couldn't feel good about myself getting away with that type of stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you can be a good nanny with 6 hours of nothing to do but go tanning. I mean..reallly...you go tanning while being paid?!?! I just couldn't feel good about myself getting away with that type of stuff.

I'm an MB and I'm fine w/ our nanny having downtime, sometimes significant downtime. But if I get to the point where I'm paying someone while they're tanning then I think I'm being had. That's not ok with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you can be a good nanny with 6 hours of nothing to do but go tanning. I mean..reallly...you go tanning while being paid?!?! I just couldn't feel good about myself getting away with that type of stuff.

I'm an MB and I'm fine w/ our nanny having downtime, sometimes significant downtime. But if I get to the point where I'm paying someone while they're tanning then I think I'm being had. That's not ok with me.

To be fair, this woman works from 7 am to 8.30 am, and then from 3 pm to 9 pm, so it all adds up to a long day. She just has a very long break in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Plus if she tidies up or goes grocery shopping for the family during that time, she does work. But I agree with you that this is an unorthodox schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you can be a good nanny with 6 hours of nothing to do but go tanning. I mean..reallly...you go tanning while being paid?!?! I just couldn't feel good about myself getting away with that type of stuff.

What should I be doing during that time? Like I said the house is spotless. I get paid for those hrs because of no school days, snow days, sick days and of course summer vacation when I work 7 am to 9 pm that's a 14 hr day. Yes in the summer they go to camp but not the whole summer. We spend the whole month of July traveling abroad where I work from the time they wake up until they go to bed including weekends for the whole month of July.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you can be a good nanny with 6 hours of nothing to do but go tanning. I mean..reallly...you go tanning while being paid?!?! I just couldn't feel good about myself getting away with that type of stuff.

I'm an MB and I'm fine w/ our nanny having downtime, sometimes significant downtime. But if I get to the point where I'm paying someone while they're tanning then I think I'm being had. That's not ok with me.

If it's a 30/hr nanny, I'd agree. But for 15 or 16, who cares? It's still a bargain.