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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am new to nanny world. Was a teacher for years and then moved mid-year so thought I'd try the nanny thing. I met a family with 2 awesome kiddos and they seemed nice enough etc. I have been mostly an observer on this board and don't have particularly "thick skin" so please be kind if you don't mind. I have several issues. I am just going to post a couple "biggies" and if you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts that'd  be great. I am open to hearing it is me and I need to change.

1. This is one of bigger. The older DC is 3 years old. We get along fine most of the time and she seems to like me/bond with me. However sometimes MB works from home and she clings to her and won't listen to me and goes on and on about how she "hates me" etc. Sometimes she is like this toward me at end of day as well. Is this normal? Am I not bonding well enough? Could we be a bad match? I want to do what's best for DC...when I was teaching my students literally LOVED me (or so it seemed) and I loved them too...

2. I feel micromanaged at times. I have a double masters in education and child development and still MB will leave notes about making sure kids eat from all five food groups, wash hands etc. I do lessons with kiddos, science experiments, reading, and loads of  outings. I feel I am an exceptional nanny and I do everything I can for the kiddos. Does MB not trust me? Should I not take it so personal...She also only wants very limited amount of TV (I agree with her) but even wants to dictate times this is allowed. I wish I had more say in it.

3. Reimbursements etc. When hired she said she wanted almost daily outings etc. Then she said she'd reimburse my expenses. Call me crazy but when it is 1.47 or a small amount I typically don't say anything. The other week when my paycheck was coming up I asked for $30 in total reimbursements over 2 weeks and gave outlines (museum tickets etc) and it was a huge deal! I really don't understand...

I have a few other things but decided to cut this short. Any advice especially regarding item one is helpful. This is SO much more difficult than I thought it would be! Who knew 2 kiddos would be just as difficult as a classroom in many ways. [/quote]

1 - Some kids are just bad. I watch two kids who are extremely spoiled and I have tried to instill a little disciple. When we are together they have a BLAST and are all over me, laughing, loving life. As soon as mom and dad get home they don't even say good bye. They just start on mom and dad asking for iPad time, candy, dessert, TV, etc. And before that I had another duo that were much better behaved, but mom worked from home daily (but stayed out of our way 99% of the time in a closed off office) and sometimes when they really didn't want to listen they would try to run to mom. This is something you have to learn to deal with when you have a stay at home parent unless they have been diligent in training their children to understand that when mommy or daddy is working they can not ever be disturbed and the nanny is in charge. Most parents don't do this.

2 - Maybe she feels the need to leave you notes because she isn't getting the full story from the kids. My charges now are both school age and if mom and dad were to ask them what they ate today for dinner they would likely not mention everything, especially neglecting to mention the vegetables. For example, if they had hamburgers, broccoli, fruit, etc they would just say "hamburgers" when asked what they ate. And even when pressed for "anything else?" they would likely say no. That's just how they are. My MB doesn't leave notes, but I make sure to give her the full story more often then not before I leave. "So and so ate really well tonight, they have burgers and broccoli with some fruit." Basically you just need to work on your communication without being intrusive.

3 - When people want outings they usually want free ones. If you think she wants paid outings I would always ask for a $20 up front and bring back change. If it goes over put it on your debit card and bring a receipt. I hate the reimbursement game unless the family is very wealthy and won't bat an eye even if I were to say "oops we spent $150 today." [/quote]

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