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[quote=Anonymous]Hello! We have hosted three au pairs and are considering switching to a live-in nanny this year. I have been considering this for a while for a number of reasons (I would really love to be able to go away overnight occasionally!) but the CCAP matching system has totally put me over the edge and I just feel done.

We are working with an agency who has given us a sample contract. Can anyone who has had a live-in nanny give me ideas about what I should watch out for/change in the contract/etc? I feel very confident in my ability to navigate the au pair process but I'm completely inexperienced in the world of live-in nannies. If it matters, we will have a split schedule with early mornings, afternoons/evenings, and weekend work. Before anyone judges, we need the weekend work because I work on Saturdays and we have two children with a large age gap, and their activities almost always necessitate splitting up and tag-teaming. And yes, we'd like to go out with friends occasionally as well. We would also like to go away overnight for a couple of nights, maybe once every 6-8 weeks or so. Kids will be in school/daycare from 9-4.

The nanny that I interviewed and liked understands and seems to be fine with this schedule. The agency's sample contract indicates that the nanny should expect to be flexible when last-minute changes arise, for example a sick child, snow day, etc. I am just not sure how to put this stuff in there contractually, because the sample contract doesn't really go into much detail other than "be flexible" and "some weeks the family will go over hours and some weeks the family will go under hours". Coming from the very rigid au pair program, this makes me kind of uncomfortable not laying it all out there in writing. I don't understand how we deal with pay for overnight work - do we pay her extra those weeks? Or just go under on the hours for the other days? What is a typical stipend for overnight work for a live-in nanny who would ordinarily not be on duty during overnight hours?

I'm also wondering how much we can ask her to do in terms of other household duties that do not apply to the kids - can she drop off dry cleaning? go grocery shopping? target run? put stamps on Christmas cards? I don't think we will be using the full 50 hours most weeks, which is apparently what her weekly salary equates to. So I'd love to have some other ideas now, so that I can talk to her about them before signing a contract.

Sorry, I feel very lost! Thanks in advance for any help![/quote]

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