Anonymous wrote:Some of you don't seem to realize that if you're home, it's damn near impossible for a nanny to do her job. With every little squeal from your kid, you come running to reward that behavior. What's the point? If anything, it may result in your having to find yet another nanny.

Few parents can afford to pay a nanny enough to put up with that.

Look, we get it. You have worked for some shitty families but I'm sure you can understand that not ALL families are like that. Just like not ALL nannies are the same. I worked for a SAHM for a year and it was actually a great experience.

OP here. I ended up asking her to work starting in the afternoon, basically so I could shovel snow and to help me clean up the toys that were everywhere by the evening. I'm grateful for the feedback.

True that not every family has the 18:53 problem.

Some of you don't seem to realize that if you're home, it's damn near impossible for a nanny to do her job. With every little squeal from your kid, you come running to reward that behavior. What's the point? If anything, it may result in your having to find yet another nanny.

Few parents can afford to pay a nanny enough to put up with that.

People get snow days off from work because it is unsafe for them to travel. Live-in nannies don't travel to work, so why on earth would they get the day off? The MBs presence in the house and the fact that she isn't working at her job that day are both irrelevant, especially if she is doing chores or taking care of personal business rather than lounging in front of the tv.

As a former live-in nanny, I almost always worked on snow days. That is one of the benefits to having a nanny live in the house. I never saw it being an issue when the parents were home. My job is to take care of the children, even when the parents are home. I understand they have other things they need to do.

I would probably ask her to work a few hours so you could get things done around the house

I don't understand why a live in nanny would have a snow day.

I would feel so weird having the nanny look after my kids while I'm home and not working. But that's me.

OTOH, it is a scheduled work day and she's there.

My live-out nanny spent the night so she could work today (as she does often). If she were a live-in I would assume she would work.

Now, if I'm home also the truth is that she actually does significantly less childcare than usual - as I'm around and will play with the kids, maybe take them out, whatever... But then again, she has to deal with parents being underfoot so I'm not sure she wouldn't rather have a usual day.

But either way she's working.

As a mom I could understand having her work for the time it takes to do those chores. (I'm guessing these chores aren't going to take you long) Otherwise? No.

Do your kids nap? Could you do the chores then?

What kind of relationship do you have overall? This request would annoy me, but for an employer I love, it'd be quickly forgotten. For an employer I'm not fond of, or one who is rigid and stingy toward me, it'd definitely be something I'd remember and may just be the last straw. Its not a completely unreasonable request, but definitely annoying, since you aren't working today either.

Yep. Part of the reason we wanted a live-in was to avoid a nanny not being able to come to work because of extreme weather conditions.

Maybe a half day?

My office is closed too and I don't have to work from home but I could still use some time to myself to do household chores. But I feel guilty asking my live in to work. What would you do?