Our nanny did everything you listed when kids were infants except meal prep - but she helped a bit with our dogs so that may be the counter balance … once kids in school full time she added meal prep. Kids are now upper elementary.

OP here

Thanks everyone for their advice.
We are prepared to pay more than we would pay for a nanny but we really need extra help with errands and stuff. I appreciate the advice on ordering groceries that is a great idea.

We are going to start our search early next week and hopefully we will find some candidates. We want to pay everything on the books, pay for insurance and we will offer 3 weeks of paid vacation (1 week of our choice, 2 of her choice) and all federal holidays off. Hopefully this will help us too. We’re looking for a long term nanny so this job will eventually get easier I hope. Our older kid will do 8-3:30 once she drops her nap and we hope to start Montessori for our toddler 3 days a week once he turns 2.

I guess you must planning to offer a really good pay for this position. At least $35 or + per hour!

I am not sure why some posters think this is so crazy - this is certainly in line with what a stay at home mom would do, and I know many families that transition from having a stay at home mom to a nanny are looking to get all of these areas covered by the nanny. Just do be sure that you have done full days of whatever you are expecting and that you are comfortable with the amount of care that your children would get.

I also agree with previous posters that you should be having groceries delivered and the nanny can be in charge of putting groceries away and doing some light meal prep (washing and chopping fruits and vegetables, marinating meat, etc).

Develop a clear idea of exactly what you expect from the nanny in terms of chores and errands (20 minutes of meal prep daily, 1 trip to each dry cleaner, target and the post office weekly, vacuum dining room daily, empty dishwasher daily etc etc for whatever you expect).

Expect to pay a good $5-$10 per hour more for this role than you would for the nanny not performing these duties.

Anonymous wrote:Op is looking for a nanny + household manager. What she’s asking is common and there are professionals that make it happen while the child(ren) are still well taken care off— high profile families pay top dollar for this type of work and the caregiver is typically with them long term.

This is not my experience as a nanny for high profile families. In my current position, my job is only the teaching and care of the older toddler. The housekeeper is the house manager and the chef handles all the grocery shopping. The parents have assistants for their errands. All of their friends have the same arrangements. I have a masters in Early Childhood Education and am well-paid.

Do you want the nanny to watch your child, or do you want your child mildly entertained while she tries to do your long list of ‘extra’s’?

Order groceries for delivery and have her put them away for you. Think of smaller things like that, they would make this job easier, otherwise he or she will quit sooner rather than later.

Anonymous wrote:Hi. We’re thinking about hiring nanny/house manager for 4yo and 18month old toddler. 4yo kid has school in the mornings. I wonder what responsibilities would be okay to ask a nanny to do since our toddler will be home with her all the time. We were thinking meal prep, grocery shopping, running errands, keeping house neat and clean (no deep cleaning but sweep under table after meals etc). DH thinks it may be too much to ask a nanny who is responsible for 18mo all day. We are open to live in position as well.

Can some experience nannies or even families help us figure out pay and maybe adjust responsibilities? This would be our first nanny and we’re very new to this however we would really like to hire this “hybrid” position. Thank yoy

Nanny here. I do all the above and have since I started with my charges as infants. The way it works is that they help and participate in most of the work. We make dinner together, clean up our messes together, they help with laundry, etc.

The only stuff that I would not ask for right now is the grocery shopping and errands simply because I would not be taking an unvaccinated child into shops and stores right now. But I do manage the groceries, I just mostly do it via app. We have a weekly instacart on monday and then a produce box on thursday.

Another thing to note is that meals need to be simple with little ones. So when I am supervising young kids, we are making a lot of sheet pan dinners, crock pot meals, etc. I also don’t serve a ton of meat simply because young kids can’t really follow safe handling practices and I want them to be able to help with meals.

Op is looking for a nanny + household manager. What she’s asking is common and there are professionals that make it happen while the child(ren) are still well taken care off— high profile families pay top dollar for this type of work and the caregiver is typically with them long term.

No, OP, that’s a ridiculous amount of work for anyone. And PP is right - it’s your kids who are going to be ignored. No halfway decent nanny would accept your job as outlined.

Your nanny will be short-changing your toddler. Our nanny took over errands, all laundry, ordering and kids meal prep after our youngest started five hour preschool.

Anonymous wrote:Hi. We’re thinking about hiring nanny/house manager for 4yo and 18month old toddler. 4yo kid has school in the mornings. I wonder what responsibilities would be okay to ask a nanny to do since our toddler will be home with her all the time. We were thinking meal prep, grocery shopping, running errands, keeping house neat and clean (no deep cleaning but sweep under table after meals etc). DH thinks it may be too much to ask a nanny who is responsible for 18mo all day. We are open to live in position as well.

Can some experience nannies or even families help us figure out pay and maybe adjust responsibilities? This would be our first nanny and we’re very new to this however we would really like to hire this “hybrid” position. Thank yoy

If you need full time hours and your toddler naps, you could have this person do kid laundry, kitchen surface cleaning and make kids' meals/make lunch for your 4yo to take the next day to school, but your 4yo will be either napping or having quiet time in their room the whole time your toddler naps. Personally, I would prefer to be 1-1 with the 4yo and doing some fun activities/learning that would be harder to do when the toddler is awake.
Grocery shopping and errands are house manager duties, not nanny, so you have a choice. Do you want this person to take your kids along? Or do you want to build in more hours and have them do these quickly and efficiently? Meal prep and cooking are easy to do, but again, either your children will be involved, or they will be parked somewhere safe.

If you want someone to live in, it's easy to build in an extra hour or two per day to do those extra tasks. If not, most nannies aren't going to be interested until both children are in school everyday.

I'm not touching pay, because you haven't decided what you want yet, and the pay will vary with duties and experience.

I think you should advertise your job and see what applicants you get. During the interview, ask them how they will juggle caring for an 18 month old + housekeeping. You will need someone very experienced who won’t get overwhelmed and you will have to pay top dollar $30+ an hour and I would consider keeping the rate the same even when the 4yr old is in school because that is when the nanny will more than likely run errands. I would also expect benefits as well— perhaps explore going through an agency.

Yes it's too much to ask a caregiver to do with 18 month old. Wait until both children are in school

I take on family assistant responsibilities once kids in school full time. Hard to do other job duties with an infant.

Hi. We’re thinking about hiring nanny/house manager for 4yo and 18month old toddler. 4yo kid has school in the mornings. I wonder what responsibilities would be okay to ask a nanny to do since our toddler will be home with her all the time. We were thinking meal prep, grocery shopping, running errands, keeping house neat and clean (no deep cleaning but sweep under table after meals etc). DH thinks it may be too much to ask a nanny who is responsible for 18mo all day. We are open to live in position as well.

Can some experience nannies or even families help us figure out pay and maybe adjust responsibilities? This would be our first nanny and we’re very new to this however we would really like to hire this “hybrid” position. Thank yoy