You nannies are crazy if you think a family should pay full rate for a nanny to sit around doing nothing. Hopefully, the OP recognizes this before she listens to your rants and loses her job.

My employers are delighted that I like to read childhood developement books and research papers whenever possible. They love having me as their "go to" person for all things related to their child.

They have a cleaning person to clean.

Personally, I can't stoop to being
"Jill of all trades, master of none."

So be careful of going down the path of the cleaning lady, nannies. You may find yourself cleaning the pool and clipping the hedges next. What's a couple more things on your task list?

What the parents don't know is that while "nanny" is "housekeeping", their precious children are dumped in front of the glorious idiot box, so she can get some real work done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well OP, you're going to have to find some stuff you're willing to do for nine hours a week. That is a lot of time.... Would you prefer to just not be paid for that time?

OP here. Was that meant to be snarky? And why? Okay, I will answer your question anyway. Actually, in all honesty, yes, I would rather be off. They want to keep the same hours so I am always available for sick children home from school, vacation days, etc. There are only two things I am not willing to do (deep clean bathrooms and hand-scrub floors). Otherwise, all else I mentioned, I am willing to do. Based on how difficult these people are, I thought others may have input on what tasks to offer that may work best in this situation, or what works for them, etc.

No, not snarky, sorry! It did read that way. I just mean that if they see it as paying you for nine extra hours, they will likely want to see how you're filling all that time. Maybe better not to get paid for those hours at all if you're not willing to do housework to fill the time. Although I get now why they want to pay you that tome in case they need you.

Anonymous wrote:Well OP, you're going to have to find some stuff you're willing to do for nine hours a week. That is a lot of time.... Would you prefer to just not be paid for that time?

OP here. Was that meant to be snarky? And why? Okay, I will answer your question anyway. Actually, in all honesty, yes, I would rather be off. They want to keep the same hours so I am always available for sick children home from school, vacation days, etc. There are only two things I am not willing to do (deep clean bathrooms and hand-scrub floors). Otherwise, all else I mentioned, I am willing to do. Based on how difficult these people are, I thought others may have input on what tasks to offer that may work best in this situation, or what works for them, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are already their maid/nanny. They are taking advantage of you. Find another job where you are treated with respect. FWIW, I am not a nanny.

+1

+2

Anonymous wrote:You are already their maid/nanny. They are taking advantage of you. Find another job where you are treated with respect. FWIW, I am not a nanny.

+1

You are already their maid/nanny. They are taking advantage of you. Find another job where you are treated with respect. FWIW, I am not a nanny.

NP here.
No way, no how would I do parents laundry. I will move it from washer to dryer and/or dryer to basket, but I will not wash their dirty clothes.

I will (happily) do meal prep for them. Chopping veggies and fruits, making marinades, etc. As long as they can give me a recipe, I'll do it.

Some grocery shopping shouldn't be that hard -- take note of what kind of milk they buy, for example.

in terms of toys: could you put old toys into bins for them to sort through?

Put out-of-season clothes into bins or bags for them?

pick up/drop off dry cleaning?

Well OP, you're going to have to find some stuff you're willing to do for nine hours a week. That is a lot of time.... Would you prefer to just not be paid for that time?

Laundry, sheets, towels. You can specify no adult underclothes if you are afraid of this but if you are being hired to do household chores while the child is at school, its highly unlikely that you will get away with kid laundry only.

No one needs a nanny to return phone calls, wouldn't offer this. I'd also avoid coming up with things that aren't very necessary or valuable to people. Things that happen only every few months aren't useful. ONly a fool believes that the nanny is organizing the kid's closet 15 hours a week.

Focus on the things that if done daily or weekly keep things clean and orderly. The list doesn't need to be long, just useful and relevant.

Laundry all
Bed Linens
Grocery shopping is good but this only kills 1 day for 1.5 hr a week.
Floors -vacuum, mopping, sweeping
Dusting

I would not leave the choice in their hands as suggested. Go to them with the things you are comfortable doing, their pickiness aside. Then once the tasks are decided upon, ask for detailed instructions and for someone to physically show you how they want it done. As for grocery shopping, ask for a weekly list, including brand names they prefer.

Personally, I would choose grocery shopping and kid laundry.

Ask them to make up their wish list and then you can take several days to ponder each item. Then come back here and share.

OP here. Sorry it is long. I spaced it out and made lists, which made it look even longer. Thanks!

My youngest charge will soon be in preschool for 3 hours 3 days per week. My family is keeping me working for the same hours I have been, and having me do household things during that time. We will soon discuss what I will do for that time. I am trying to figure out what I would most like to do, and what I really don't want to do. I want to know my preferences before our meeting, so we can talk about it and agree on some things. I figure they may have ideas, and I should too.

I would like some suggestions of what may be the best things I could do for them (at least my preferences that I will bring to the table). I can't figure out what would work best, and what wouldn't, because they are very hard to work for. I don't want to make it harder by agreeing to some tasks that just make things more problematic with them. They are rather picky. They tend not to give enough information about what they want or how they want something, then comment on it/criticize after the fact (after I have done it). Even when I ask for details, I have a hard time getting enough details (not very responsive or never a clear picture - poor communicators). Also, they are famous for the "job creep". My original agreement was to "focus on the kids" and do "a few chores occasionally" if they themselves didn't have time, etc. These were not supposed to be daily, since "focus on the kids" could happen all day due to the number of kids and age differences of the kids. There isn't a space where all kids are napping, etc.

I already do:
daily dishes - dishwasher and handwashed - not just from the day, but from them the night before and more on Mondays
trash/recycling out whenever needed (often)
some pet care, general picking up, putting paper towels/soap/wipes/Kleenex/etc. out when they runs out (often), other odds & ends
keeping calendar/schedule of kids' activities, school things, etc. and coordinating those things

I will not do:
heavy cleaning of bathrooms (will wipe counters)
scrubbing floors by hand

I know the communication/picky-after-the-fact thing would be too hard with:
organizing closets, cabinets etc.
getting rid of old toys/clothes
(they have too many opinions on what to get rid of or where things should go)

I am wondering about how these things would work, considering how they are:
shopping for groceries and Costco (they would have to give a good list, but still potential problems?)
laundry (I would say kids' only, but wonder if the details problem would rear its head?)
washing counters (too picky?)
floor - vacuuming and/or mopping (too picky?)
dusting (too picky?)
more phone calls/errands like a personal assistant (they said there are some tasks like that)

Nannies (or others can answer), which tasks would you choose, or what do you do now, that you like/don't like, and why? Considering the way I describe these people, please help if you can see potential problems with certain tasks and the way these people are (the job creep and the few-details-then-critical-afterwards thing).

Thanks so much everyone!