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[quote=Anonymous]It depends on a number of things.

What hours does the after school nanny work?  Some work from pick up til a parent gets home, so there's less time to do extra things.  Some work for 1-3 hours before pick up, and that's the time that most extras get done.

How old are the kids?  How many kids do you have?  If you only have 1 child, there's more ability to cook while the kid does homework at the kitchen counter or at the dining room table.  If you have 3+ kids, and the nanny is helping all of them, possibly floating between different rooms so that the kids focus and don't antagonize each other, there's not much else she can do until homework is done.

How many activities is she taking kids to per day/week?  Is there enough time to leave and do a quick errand or two and be back to pick up the child(ren)?  Some activities will let the responsible adult leave, some won't.  If the child is going to be there for an hour or less, there's no point in leaving unless the errand is within a couple of blocks.  If the nanny has multiple charges and the schedule is crazy (one day I previously had: Child A ballet 4.10 drop off, Child B swimming 4.30 drop off, child C riding 4.45 drop off, child B 5.15 pick up, child A 5.40 pick up, child C 6.15 pick up), homework is done in the car, snack is eaten in the car, and there wasn't much time left to much of anything other than drive.

Does the schedule change every week or can the nanny and kids set a routine?  Most kids will have at least two different types of days per week, so planning a routine that works for every school day doesn't work.  If the times are the same for each season or semester, it's really easy to set a routine.  After the first 1-3 weeks, the nanny knows how long it takes to get between each of the stops, and she'll know whether she has 5 minutes to run in and drop off or pick up prescriptions, dry cleaning, etc (as long as they are on the route).  Knowing how to get from point A to point B isn't enough, she needs to know the traffic patterns at the times she's going between the points.

How much time do the kids have free in the afternoon/evening at home?  What level of supervision do the children need during that time?  The older the child, the less direct supervision they need, but the more the nanny needs to be indirectly supervising.  It's actually easier to supervise elementary age kids by having them within earshot or line of sight than it is to peek occasionally into the living room unnoticed when a middle/high school age charge is in there with one or more friends or a bf/gf.

What chores are your kids mature enough to do?  What chores have you set for the kids to do?  What chores do your children have time to do after accounting for homework, activities and 30 minutes of time to decompress?  By the time that kids are in elementary school, they are capable of folding and hanging their own clothes, taking their dirty clothes to the laundry room, loading and unloading the dishwasher, prepping a salad, etc.  By the time that a child is in middle school, most can be capable of doing almost any task around the house, if they grew up helping.  If the nanny needs to sort the clothes, pre-treat stains and start the wash, that can be done in 5-10 minutes, as long as she doesn't have to hunt down all the dirty clothes.  Switching the clothes from the washer to dryer takes 2 minutes, unless there are clothes to hang up to dry, or unless the load has to be resorted to dry on two different settings.  If the nanny is just unloading the dishwasher, it can take 5-30 minutes depending on whether she has to pull things out to put everything away correctly and whether there's a sink full of dishes to rinse and load.

What type of cooking do you want the nanny to do?  What is her level of comfort cooking like that?  Most nannies can prep and start a crockpot meal in 30 minutes or less, but there needs to be enough time for it to cook after she gets in ready.  Families who want the nanny to cook from scratch learn quickly that they need a nanny who can cook without following a recipe or a nanny who is used to recipe cooking.  Prep and cooking time for someone who is used to cooking from scratch with or without cooking from a recipe can be half to one third that of someone who isn't used to cooking like that, because the person that's used to cooking like that starts multiple steps at once rather than doing each part as it's needed.  If all you want or need is someone to warm something up or make mac and cheese, anyone can do that, and times won't vary very much.

Do you want the nanny to do grocery shopping for that evening's meal, for the week, for two weeks or to restock the pantry?  Do you want the nanny to spend the time to write out a grocery before she goes or will the list be ready?  How are you expecting the nanny to pay for the groceries?  Is your focus on cost, convenience, freshness or messiness?  Many nannies will take a young charge to pick out the food for that evening's meal, but most stop doing it once the child is in school full time, as there doesn't seem to be enough time anymore.  If the nanny doesn't have a list ready, and she's doing grocery shopping for more than one day, she needs 15-60 minutes to go through the pantry, refrigerator and the freezer to determine what is needed before she goes.  Stocking the pantry can take hours, and shopping for 2 weeks for a family of 4 can take 1-2.5 hours depending on the time of year.  You need to talk to the nanny to determine how she will pay for the groceries.  Options include the following: cash in an envelope, reimbursement for the nanny using her own money (if you want the receipt and she uses a debit or credit card of her own, you may need to be satisfied with a copy), prepaid debit or credit card which can be reloaded, gift card for a specific store (may or may not be reloadable), your credit card with your name on it (most nannies aren't willing to deal with the liability issues) or your credit line with a card issued in her name.  If your focus is cost, will the nanny clip coupons for you or do rebates?  If your focus is freshness, what happens when the store is out of two or more produce items that she needs to pick up or the selection is wilted, too soft or too green?  If you focus is on convenience, would the nanny have the authority to change something on the list if she found a more convenient item?  If your focus is messiness, can the nanny look for options that will keep the kids from having crumbs or other mess all over the car or table?

Are you looking to hire a nanny who does some small household items (like kid laundry, cooking for kids and shopping for kids' meals) or are you looking for a nanny/housekeeper?  If you advertise for a nanny, you need to be clear what the expectations are.  If you want someone to vacuum, dust, do dishes and cooking for the whole family, do family laundry and other household tasks, you are looking for a nanny/housekeeper, and many nannies wouldn't be interested.

Overall, rule of thumb is that there is someone out there willing to do what you want and need done, as long as you are willing to pay them what they think is adequate compensation.  The question is simply whether you are willing and able to afford what that compensation.[/quote]

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