Stop being obtuse. Of course you would answer the phone during work hours if it was something for the charge or an emergency! But if you cannot see the difference between texting your friend and texting for your charge's doctor's appointment than you aren't bright enough to be a nanny. No personal calls during the day - ever. Period. Not too hard to comprehend really. No personal phone calls, texts or checking of social media during working hours. |
What if you work 24 hrs a day like I do? Then what ? And that poster said she wouldn't answer calls to anyone other then her employers. Very dangerous |
Wait a sec... Some of you would turn down a $22 an hour job for one infant that is 40 hours a week plus five hours at time-and-a-half ($1,045 a week) that includes heath insurance, three weeks paid vacation and 45 hours of PTO because you have to bring your own lunch and not use your cell phone for personal calls except during nap time?
Are you guys all independently wealthy?! LOL I would accept this job in a hot New York minute!! |
What is "dangerous" about it? |
A lot of silly girls post and read this forum. |
What could be dangerous about refusing to answer a call from the school ? Your 5 yr old charge has basketball every Tuesday right after school from 4-5 in the gym but today it's cancelled. the school calls and sends out an email but I refuse to look at my phone unless it's my employers, I don't pick up my charge and he is left at the schoo for an hr without me. Some schools call that abandonmet and call CPS after so many failed responses and would call for sure after an hr. I believe I read in a handbook through Howard county summer camp programs that they call CPS after 15 minutes. |
I think what people are getting at is this - let's say baby is having tummy time on his mat and nanny is sitting with him singing songs or describing the animals he can see. A phone call comes in and it's from her doctor; can she answer that call? If your answer is no, I wouldn't be able to work for you either; sometimes we, as adults, struggle to connect with important people in our lives - waiting on the results of a biopsy (no your nanny won't tell you that is happening), trying to get an appointment with the dentist, whatever. It is completely reasonable to expect her not to be on her phone when the baby is awake, but I think you'll come across as more human (and humane) if you understand that great nannies who put their phones away when they are working will still, every now and again, need to take a quick call. If she will be worried about getting fired because she had to answer a 42 second call, that's really not ideal. Hire someone mature, responsible, and professional whose references say she was stellar at not using her phone with the kids and then ask her not to use it while baby is awake. Leave out the NEVER WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and more of these stellar nannies will be interested in your job. |
Oh, and how will nanny arrange play dates or get updated info on music class if she can't use her phone to text little Johnny's friends' nannies/parents? Really try to think about all the possibilities. |
I think this is good advice. I'm struggling with how to word language around phone/device usage in a work agreement. Do you have any suggestions? I'm not the OP, but I am hiring soon and I don't know how to strike the right balance between reasonable use of one's personal phone during work hours (esp. during naps) while making it clear that the kids are to be the priority. Would love some guidance about language. Thanks! |
I will say that I use my smart phone to take pictures of my charge(s), get directions for outings, look up work related info I need right away, and with older kids, I use it to find answers to questions we have as we go through our day. (Googled "what do ducks eat" last week and had a 20 minute discussion about the results.) So no use of a smart phone unless kid(s) are asleep would be a tiny sticking point for me, because I actually use the phone to help me do my job. The food thing...if your child is like the 12+ I have cared for, they will eat better when they eat WITH their nanny and they eat WHAT the nanny is eating. So, unless you are prepared to train your child to NEVER ask for any of nanny's food, and are also prepared to insist that nanny NEVER offer bites of her food to your child, this seems extreme. Of curse, there will always be stories of nannies who take the last lobster claw for their lunch or what-have-you, but that type of rudeness is rare. I eat what my charges eat once they are on table food. I don't ever take the last of something, and have never had an employer ask me "Where is the <food item>?" and had to respond, "Um, I ate it all up yesterday." |
OP - What I've found is that what I put in contract with my nanny, as well as what we discussed when she first joined our famiy, set the baselines with some wiggle room. When she asked if she could eat whatever's in the fridge for lunch, I said something like 'I'd prefer that you bring your lunch, but you're welcome to coffee, tea, etc.' It's seemed to have worked out fine; I don't have to worry about not having enough of the leftovers I planned to serve for dinner, but I don't bat an eyelid when she takes extra fruit for herself when she grabs some for my daughter for a snack.
Regarding the phone use, I asked that when my daughter isn't napping, that she limit personal use - except in emergencies - to 10 min a day. Not that I actually count the minutes, but she's smart enough to understand that I don't want her glued to her phone when she's watching my daughter. |
Funny how some parents deem it appropriate to request from a nanny, behavior that they themselves could never manage. |
I never use my phone at work. Believe it or not, it is possible and actually makes it far easier to concentrate on the task at hand. I have no clue as to why so many nannies feel this is such a hardship. |
+1 I never use my cell phone when I am with my child. Never. And I am a SAHM. I don't know why nannies think this is an unreasonable job requirement either. |
The thought of your child in 20 years scares me. A child who has never seen a parent on a phone? Never had to wait even 1 min for anything, the child who has had eyes on them at all times and is totally self absorbed. The child of that generation omg . You know the no screen time kids. I think those kids will ruin our society |