Anonymous wrote:I personally wouldn't allow a nanny to run her errands with my kids in the car. No value to my children. Do them on her own time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would never hire a student nanny for just this reason. And if I hired a nanny who later went back to school, I would tell her up front that I am not comfortable with schoolwork being done on the job. Look at it this way: Being a student at night is like having a second job at night. Would you be okay with your nanny suddenly bringing her nighttime charges to work at your house during the day, so she could squeeze in some extra hours of moonlighting while your kids don't need her full attention? Then why should you put up with her doing schoolwork on your time? Of course it is a distraction.

There should be no such thing as being "done" with nanny duties during her work hours. Like anyone else who is paid hourly or weekly rather than by the task, if she's done with any specific chores you left for her, she should either look around to see what else needs to be done (i.e., organize a child's closet or toys) or look for ways to improve her performance of basic duties (i.e. research new activities for the kids, read up on child development theories, look for new kid-friendly recipes and get cooking, ask if you need help with camp research or applications).

I told my nanny when we hired her that we want her to take up to a one hour lunch break each day but beyond that, if the kids are napping or otherwise not in need of direct interaction, we expect her to be helping out in ways that help the household run smoothly as opposed to reading or using her phone or taking care of personal business. We gave her a list of duties that we consider part of her basic job and a second list of things that we would like done on a time-permitting basis. Re the latter list, we worked with her to identify things that we want done and she doesn't mind doing. For example, she hates to clean but loves to cook, so she spends what would otherwise be downtime preparing family meals. She's stayed with us for years because the expectations are clear and she is mature enough to understand that work is supposed to demand your full attention while you are on the job.

You sound like an absolute nightmare of an employer and human being. Good for you that your nanny is apparently happy, but you're the exact kind of employer I avoid like the plague. Luckily my bosses trust my judgment when it comes to completing my work and taking time for myself. They don't have to micromanage me or dictate how long of a break I take. Jeesh.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would never hire a student nanny for just this reason. And if I hired a nanny who later went back to school, I would tell her up front that I am not comfortable with schoolwork being done on the job. Look at it this way: Being a student at night is like having a second job at night. Would you be okay with your nanny suddenly bringing her nighttime charges to work at your house during the day, so she could squeeze in some extra hours of moonlighting while your kids don't need her full attention? Then why should you put up with her doing schoolwork on your time? Of course it is a distraction.

There should be no such thing as being "done" with nanny duties during her work hours. Like anyone else who is paid hourly or weekly rather than by the task, if she's done with any specific chores you left for her, she should either look around to see what else needs to be done (i.e., organize a child's closet or toys) or look for ways to improve her performance of basic duties (i.e. research new activities for the kids, read up on child development theories, look for new kid-friendly recipes and get cooking, ask if you need help with camp research or applications).

I told my nanny when we hired her that we want her to take up to a one hour lunch break each day but beyond that, if the kids are napping or otherwise not in need of direct interaction, we expect her to be helping out in ways that help the household run smoothly as opposed to reading or using her phone or taking care of personal business. We gave her a list of duties that we consider part of her basic job and a second list of things that we would like done on a time-permitting basis. Re the latter list, we worked with her to identify things that we want done and she doesn't mind doing. For example, she hates to clean but loves to cook, so she spends what would otherwise be downtime preparing family meals. She's stayed with us for years because the expectations are clear and she is mature enough to understand that work is supposed to demand your full attention while you are on the job.

OP, I would never hire a student nanny for just this reason. And if I hired a nanny who later went back to school, I would tell her up front that I am not comfortable with schoolwork being done on the job. Look at it this way: Being a student at night is like having a second job at night. Would you be okay with your nanny suddenly bringing her nighttime charges to work at your house during the day, so she could squeeze in some extra hours of moonlighting while your kids don't need her full attention? Then why should you put up with her doing schoolwork on your time? Of course it is a distraction.

There should be no such thing as being "done" with nanny duties during her work hours. Like anyone else who is paid hourly or weekly rather than by the task, if she's done with any specific chores you left for her, she should either look around to see what else needs to be done (i.e., organize a child's closet or toys) or look for ways to improve her performance of basic duties (i.e. research new activities for the kids, read up on child development theories, look for new kid-friendly recipes and get cooking, ask if you need help with camp research or applications).

I told my nanny when we hired her that we want her to take up to a one hour lunch break each day but beyond that, if the kids are napping or otherwise not in need of direct interaction, we expect her to be helping out in ways that help the household run smoothly as opposed to reading or using her phone or taking care of personal business. We gave her a list of duties that we consider part of her basic job and a second list of things that we would like done on a time-permitting basis. Re the latter list, we worked with her to identify things that we want done and she doesn't mind doing. For example, she hates to clean but loves to cook, so she spends what would otherwise be downtime preparing family meals. She's stayed with us for years because the expectations are clear and she is mature enough to understand that work is supposed to demand your full attention while you are on the job.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would never hire a student nanny for just this reason. And if I hired a nanny who later went back to school, I would tell her up front that I am not comfortable with schoolwork being done on the job. Look at it this way: Being a student at night is like having a second job at night. Would you be okay with your nanny suddenly bringing her nighttime charges to work at your house during the day, so she could squeeze in some extra hours of moonlighting while your kids don't need her full attention? Then why should you put up with her doing schoolwork on your time? Of course it is a distraction.

There should be no such thing as being "done" with nanny duties during her work hours. Like anyone else who is paid hourly or weekly rather than by the task, if she's done with any specific chores you left for her, she should either look around to see what else needs to be done (i.e., organize a child's closet or toys) or look for ways to improve her performance of basic duties (i.e. research new activities for the kids, read up on child development theories, look for new kid-friendly recipes and get cooking, ask if you need help with camp research or applications).

I told my nanny when we hired her that we want her to take up to a one hour lunch break each day but beyond that, if the kids are napping or otherwise not in need of direct interaction, we expect her to be helping out in ways that help the household run smoothly as opposed to reading or using her phone or taking care of personal business. We gave her a list of duties that we consider part of her basic job and a second list of things that we would like done on a time-permitting basis. Re the latter list, we worked with her to identify things that we want done and she doesn't mind doing. For example, she hates to clean but loves to cook, so she spends what would otherwise be downtime preparing family meals. She's stayed with us for years because the expectations are clear and she is mature enough to understand that work is supposed to demand your full attention while you are on the job.

Anonymous wrote:Just to make a point...she could have had the homework out while the laundry was washing or drying. That whole process takes about 2 hours. I eat lunch close to the time that my charge's laundry finishes. My MB could make the argument that I should do all job related tasks prior to anything personal. Just a thought.
Also, you never answered PP's question about whether or not her duties are finished by her end time.
Are they?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently her car has a sensor that when the keys are in the car it will lock after 30 seconds. She heard the car lock as she was strapping the baby in, but didn't worry since she thought the keys were in her pocket. The keys fell out of her pocket as she was bending over to put the baby in her car seat and she didn't realize it until after she had shut the door.

My husband said when he got there that the keys were clearly down somewhere where they would have fallen, and that it looked like an unfortunate accident, but not something caused by distraction.

This doesn't sound like it has anything to do with being distracted. Sounds completely like an accident partly due to her car's technology and partly due to fluke. it sounds like you are irritated with her for other things and that is coloring your view of this incident.

MB here. This may sound nuts but I don't think it's a huge firing offense that she accidentally locked the kid in the car. That kind of thing can happen to anyone.

I would consider firing for "come home to see her schoolwork out and the kids laundry is not folded or I hear her on the phone when I walk in and there's a mess of cereal on the floor, "

My feeling is that when my nanny is at work, all the nannying duties need to be completed BEFORE she does her own stuff. If one of your nanny's duties is to clean up after the kids' meals or fold their laundry, then doing their own schoolwork before those things are done is completely unacceptable.