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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you would like the extra help, here is how I would phrase it:

"Nanny, we greatly appreciate the fact that you are on time or early every single day.  That is so valuable to us, and it means so much to see you making it such a priority.  As you may have noticed, our mornings are very hectic.  If you would be interested, you could start writing down the time that you actually get here, and if you are willing to pitch in as soon as possible get settled, we would gladly pay you for the extra 15 or 20 minutes on days when you are early.  Obviously, you would still only be required to be here by your 8 o'clock start time.  But given that you are often here earlier than that, and that we could often use the help, I wondered if you would be open to earning a little extra overtime during those 15 or 20 minutes of lag time between when you get here and when your official start time begins.  Would you be interested in that?"

If your nanny does not have the ability to wait in the car (it sounded from your post like she is taking public transportation to get there). Then it is perfectly reasonable for her to arrive early and sit in your house doing whatever she pleases that is not disruptive until her actual start time.  If you move her start time back to 745, my guess is that she will begin arriving at 7:30 and he will have this same problem 15 minutes earlier.  It is 100% valid for her not to be working during a time when she is not paid to work. I doubt that you would want to do work you were not being paid for either.  I can see where you might feel that she ought to help a family in need just to show that she is a team player, but the reality is that in many cases that type of help quickly becomes take it for granted and leads to Nanny burn out.  If this is what she needs to feel rested before jumping into a full days work, then you would be a fool to be upset with her.

That said, if you are willing to pay for the extra time, and can guarantee that you will not be annoyed next week because she was only 10 minutes early to work and only helped for 10 extra minutes, then I can see no reason why this could not work for both of you.  Tell her that you will keep track of the extra time anyway she wishes and that you will not build your schedule around having her there, but simply be appreciative on the days when she does happen to be early.

My fear as a nanny if you asked me this, especially after having had you lecture me about how you I was not permitted to be late under any circumstances, is that you would then get used to having that help in your morning routine and if I were only five minutes late one day, that you would tell me I had made you late for work because you now had to get your child dressed all by yourself.  Think carefully about yourself and about whether you are to the type of employer who would get caught up in that mindset. The fact that you are annoyed with her for not working for free for 15 minutes does not necessarily speak highly of you in that regard. [/quote]

OP here. Your wording is very professional and your advice is helpful. I don't want to take advantage of anyone. I would be fine if she showed up at 8 on the dot and would never consider that late. I am uncomfortable having her at the house so early because it is a small invasion of our privacy in addition to the fact that we live in a small house so that were all constantly running around the room where she sits.  She has thrown off our routine. It would be great if we could offer her a private space to sit. Unfortunately, our house is small. I can't possibly ask her to sit in the basement next to the dryer or upstairs in our bedrooms, so there is no other place to put her.[/quote]

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