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[quote=Anonymous]I've posted before about our change from a part-time nanny to a full-time nanny.  I have 3 children under 4 and work part-time but some weeks I have to work all 5 days.  In an effort to make things easier with the nanny and ensure her availability we hired a full-time nanny who always works 5 days a week.  Most weeks she works 40 hours with additional hours (at OT rate) when I work all 5 days. Anyway, she started recently and I'm struggling a little with how to do things on the days I don't work.  Sometimes it's great, I was able to go to my oldest DCs last day of school party without dragging the younger DCs with me and oldest DC got my undivided attention.  I took middle DC to the doctor without having to work it around oldest DCs school schedule and without having to drag the baby with me.  Next week when oldest DC is out of school I've made plans for us with some of DCs friends and one day I'll take the older 2 DCs out and can leave the baby with the nanny.  Sometimes though it's awkward and leaves me feeling like I'm not being the parent I want to be.  For example, today I went to DCs school party but then when we came home it was 12:30, lunch time and then nap time.  I could have done it myself but the nanny's hours are until 2:30.  If I'm around, the children just want me so I try to stay out of the way so I'm not making it difficult for the nanny.  I didn't really have anything I had to do though that I couldn't do while they were napping.  I ended up just going upstairs and putting some laundry away until the nanny put DCs down for their nap but I could have done it later.  I still ended up letting her go early because she was done putting older DCs to sleep by 2:15 and I wanted to feed the baby so I told her she was free to go (but I'll still pay her until 2:30 because she has guaranteed hours).

I've always been a very hands-on parent.  I work part-time because I want to be the primary care-giver for my children but now I find myself not doing as much as I used to because we have a full-time nanny.  For now it's mostly ok because with 3 children there's always something I can do with 1 or 2 of them while the nanny is with the others but in September both oldest and middle DC will be in pre-school in the mornings.  I'd like to be able to spend more quality time with youngest DC who will be 9 months old then but what will I do with the nanny then?  She does the children's laundry and is very helpful around the house but I feel funny about saying "I'm going to play with DC while you do the laundry."[/quote]

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