I guess the question really is what would you rather she be doing with that time? Do you feel like your child is lacking in tummy time, a set eating and sleeping schedule, or some other activity that can only be accomplished at home? I know when I go out with DS I'm usually talking with him most of the time. If your nanny is talking to your baby (I'm assuming "newborn" isn't entirely accurate as she probably shouldn't be out much with an actual newborn), naming foods, and generally stimulating your child verbally, it doesn't seem like an issue. If you think about all her working hours as "being on your time" you need to be able to explain exactly what you'd like her to be doing each block of the day. Most parents hire a nanny to mimic the home environment they'd be able to offer if they weren't working, and for most people that includes running errands.

Tl;dr If it isn't interfering with your child's development, and is potentially assisting with it, consider that you have hired someone to do their job and trust them to do it. If she isn't providing the type of activities and/or care you want, speak to her with specific instructions to correct it.

I run all errands(target, grocery,costco etc). MB is perfectly ok if I grab anything I might need while out. My hours can run late into the evening so it's nice to be able to grab something I might need. We do a daily coffee run as well mb usually enjoys a latte.

However, op since your nanny only works 4 days a week I don't really feel she should be running errands on your time.

MB here. As long as it doesn't interfere with the baby's schedule and doesn't take too long I wouldn't mind. For example if they're out for a stroll and drop by the grocery store for 10 minutes I wouldn't care. I support the right of other parents to demand 100% attention on their baby but in my case it's not a big deal.

I run errands sometimes but I try to make it fun. For example, I'll take the kids to the pet store when I run out of dog food and they love to look at the animals while we are there.
I would never spend very long doing errands though, such as heavy grocery shopping or trying on clothes.

A parent does have the right to not allow nanny to run personal errands while on duty.
Keep in mind, however, we do not get a free lunch break that most people do. I can't simply run out and pick up tomatoes I need for dinner during my lunch break. Allowing reasonable errands goes a long way towards goodwill.

It's not ok to run personal errands during work hours You pay for nanny hours and she should spend this time working. It is very unprofessional. Our nanny used to do it without our approval and we fired her.

Anonymous wrote:I would love ideas for where to go other then the mall to escape the heat. Young children can only be in the sun for so long. My NF does not like to use the AC all the time but even if they did I just need someplace cool to walk around sometimes. Specifically, someplace where I won't be obligated to spend any money.

Libraries and book stores.

Now I see, four 10 hour days. What does she do, and where does she go, for those 10 hours?

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny has been with us for a few weeks, watching our newborn. She seems to assume it is ok to shop for herself during the day. She takes him for walks and buys groceries for her own family at Safeway, Giant, etc. I would appreciate perspective on whether this is normally accepted behavior for nannies in DC or not. It seems very wrong to me that she's assuming it's ok to do her personal errands during time when I am paying her to watch my child. Furthermore, my husband and I had debating asking her to do personal errands like that for us, but we decided against it because we wanted her to be 100% focused on our newborn. Any experience or advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated. I want to be reasonable.

You forgot to mention her hours with your child....

I would love ideas for where to go other then the mall to escape the heat. Young children can only be in the sun for so long. My NF does not like to use the AC all the time but even if they did I just need someplace cool to walk around sometimes. Specifically, someplace where I won't be obligated to spend any money.

I only work four days but I also do quick errands during work hours, usually places that are in route to the playground. I have done clothing stores or mall but not to shop, to get out of the heat! The mall is the only place in the neighborhood where I work that I can go to without having to spend money and get out of the house and blazing sun. I don't share my goings with MB but if she ever asked I wouldn't lie about it.

Thanks for the replies. This nanny works 40 hours over 4 days/week (10 hours/day), so she has three days completely off to run her personal errands.

I think it depends. My last job was 50-60 hours per week, each day ending between 6:30-7:30. The only time I could possibly go to the bank or the post office was during work hours. And those places were on our regular route to playground and library. The benefit for the parents is that allowed me have a soft ending time, because I wasnt iching to leave to attempt to run these little errands.

My job now is 35hours per week, ending at 3:30. I don't run errands during work, because I don't need to, and I'm know when I'm going to be done.

I work 10-12 hour days. There are some errands that must be run during business hours, so yes I run the occasional personal errand, and my employers do not care. Some of you are wound too incredibly tightly.

I wouldn't like our nanny running personal errands with our newborn - no way. She never did, btw, and I'm grateful for that.