Wow. No discussion about the death of the AP program here?

[Anonymous]

Another nanny here- I make the kids start helping with laundry when they’re two. Kids can sort and carry clothes to the washer. Putting clothes away at 3. Folding at 5. Doing actual laundry supervised at 5.

[Anonymous]

I meant folding at 4!

[Anonymous]

This is bad. Au pairs are gong to be resentful and families are going to nickel and dime. Just get a nanny! An illegal probably costs the same as an au pair anyway.

[Anonymous]

Good grief nannies, it is none of your business why that family doesn’t have their children do their laundry. Perhaps the children have a disability, perhaps they live in an apartment and don’t have a washer/dryer in their home. Whatever their reason is, it is their choice and they don’t need to defend themselves to anyone. Leave them alone and get back back to the point of this post.

[Anonymous]

Omg of course a 5 and 8 year old can do laundry SUPERVISED by an adult—as the pp said SHE AND BER HUSBAND WORK SO THEY DO NOT HAVE TIME TO SUPERVISE.
Nannies please stay out of this thread it has nothing to do with you.

[Anonymous]

Nannies, please. It’s not realistic to have both working full time parents and supervised a 5 years old to do laundry, 2 years old to fold clothes. You can do that because you job IS to actually supervised them. Get a grip!

[Anonymous]

Since when this topic turned up to be for nannies showing us their laundry teaching skills? Go to your forum, here we discuss new Massachusets law and au pairs.

[Anonymous]

lol @ nannies turning their bosses houses into laundromats run with child labor

Y’all it’s really not that expensive to set up laundry pick up/delivery

[Anonymous]

Or, MBs could do the laundry instead of reading DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol @ nannies turning their bosses houses into laundromats run with child labor

Y’all it’s really not that expensive to set up laundry pick up/delivery

This. We got out of hosting due to the lawsuits. I have found that I can outsource nearly everything I liked about having an AP and then some, for less money and less emotional labor. You can have a wash and fold service do the laundry AND they will deliver. And as much as the nannies here are being incredibly inappropriate, I have also gotten my older kid to manage her own laundry (starting at age 9). I feel for the families going through this but as someone who is on the other side of it- don't worry! You can and will find good, reliable childcare and household help and probably spend way less $$ than you do on an AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the Pp who currently pays $225, once you deduct the $100 a week that CC is going to give you, does that make it a complete wash re: the finances? I was thinking that the $100 from the agency would ensure that we have no additional ‘hit’.

I agree re: the paperwork, that is why I’d have to consider if we would stay with the program. I’m already an overworked, overwhelmed momma, I really can’t manage all of the other ‘noise’ that this ruling would give me. But to that point, I also know using my schools aftercare program would not work for me (I need someone to do the kids laundry (ages 5 and 8) because they are too young, and my husband and I just do not have the time :/)

Wait, why are your kids too young to do laundry?

I’m a nanny. All of my charges start folding washcloths at 2 and matching socks at 3. By 4, they are stripping their beds and washing/drying their own sheets (with help when they wet the bed). Also at 4, they can wash/dry the load of towels. At 5, they are turning clothes right side out, zipping pants and checking pockets. At 6, they’re learning to sort out colors, look for stains and pretreat, and finding tears (pulling items to have an adult decide to keep for old clothes, dispose of donate). By 7, I trust all of my charges to bag (in the wash) and hang athletic clothing to dry before throwing the rest in the dryer. By 8, all of my charges are capable of doing any laundry, though they may need help remembering when to do it.

Are you teaching your children to do housework? Are you teaching them to cook? How about learning to manage their time and get the important things done efficiently so then they can play/have fun?

This post is insane. Why do you care so much about laundry?

I care about teaching my charges to contribute to their family and community and to be independent/self-sufficient in age-appropriate ways. It boggles my mind that children at 5 and 8 are “too young” to even help with their laundry. It makes me wonder about what other things they should be learning, yet aren’t. They form the habit when they’re young and the difficulty is gradually increased as they show mastery. The same thing happens in every school subject, music, sport, art, etc. It’s called spiral or graduated learning.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the state, this can go either way. Our absolutely awful AuPair works from.345-7pm. She taxis the boys around. My kids are 10&13 and we never have her work weeks, as we leave the kids alone if we go out. Summers, our kids go to half day camp most of the time, or bike to swim team. The 13 yr old goes to the pool by himself.

With va minimum wage, I'd be required to pay $117/wk. In summer, for our max 30hr week, it would be $217, but most likely less. I suppose this exempts the family from paying room and board, much like Canada.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the Pp who currently pays $225, once you deduct the $100 a week that CC is going to give you, does that make it a complete wash re: the finances? I was thinking that the $100 from the agency would ensure that we have no additional ‘hit’.

I agree re: the paperwork, that is why I’d have to consider if we would stay with the program. I’m already an overworked, overwhelmed momma, I really can’t manage all of the other ‘noise’ that this ruling would give me. But to that point, I also know using my schools aftercare program would not work for me (I need someone to do the kids laundry (ages 5 and 8) because they are too young, and my husband and I just do not have the time :/)

Wait, why are your kids too young to do laundry?

I’m a nanny. All of my charges start folding washcloths at 2 and matching socks at 3. By 4, they are stripping their beds and washing/drying their own sheets (with help when they wet the bed). Also at 4, they can wash/dry the load of towels. At 5, they are turning clothes right side out, zipping pants and checking pockets. At 6, they’re learning to sort out colors, look for stains and pretreat, and finding tears (pulling items to have an adult decide to keep for old clothes, dispose of donate). By 7, I trust all of my charges to bag (in the wash) and hang athletic clothing to dry before throwing the rest in the dryer. By 8, all of my charges are capable of doing any laundry, though they may need help remembering when to do it.

Are you teaching your children to do housework? Are you teaching them to cook? How about learning to manage their time and get the important things done efficiently so then they can play/have fun?

This post is insane. Why do you care so much about laundry?

I care about teaching my charges to contribute to their family and community and to be independent/self-sufficient in age-appropriate ways. It boggles my mind that children at 5 and 8 are “too young” to even help with their laundry. It makes me wonder about what other things they should be learning, yet aren’t. They form the habit when they’re young and the difficulty is gradually increased as they show mastery. The same thing happens in every school subject, music, sport, art, etc. It’s called spiral or graduated learning.

No one cares about your views on laundry. This is a thread about the new wage law affecting APs in MA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depending on the state, this can go either way. Our absolutely awful AuPair works from.345-7pm. She taxis the boys around. My kids are 10&13 and we never have her work weeks, as we leave the kids alone if we go out. Summers, our kids go to half day camp most of the time, or bike to swim team. The 13 yr old goes to the pool by himself.

With va minimum wage, I'd be required to pay $117/wk. In summer, for our max 30hr week, it would be $217, but most likely less. I suppose this exempts the family from paying room and board, much like Canada.

Except that the rule in MA is that you have to pay hourly except if it’s less than the federal minimum. In that case you have to pay the federal minimum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depending on the state, this can go either way. Our absolutely awful AuPair works from.345-7pm. She taxis the boys around. My kids are 10&13 and we never have her work weeks, as we leave the kids alone if we go out. Summers, our kids go to half day camp most of the time, or bike to swim team. The 13 yr old goes to the pool by himself.

With va minimum wage, I'd be required to pay $117/wk. In summer, for our max 30hr week, it would be $217, but most likely less. I suppose this exempts the family from paying room and board, much like Canada.

The way the new law is applied in MA, you still have to follow the DoD rules, which means you will have to pay a minimum of $195.75 even if you only use AP for 10 hours/week.