Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread makes no sense. Why can't the nanny used her own data plan to surf the internet on her phone?

Then I won't stream music, look up directions, get ideas for crafts or activities, or do any of the myriad things that I do for a family that provides wifi. Oh, and I don't have a smart phone, I have a laptop and a flip phone with no data, so that makes a huge difference too.

Then you don't need the wifi password at all.

Caritin wrote:If she needs your wi-fi you need a pict and short message every 30 mins of what is being done. Sounds fair?

Lame - so the nanny is supposed to have her phone out at all times, snapping photos of the kids, and sending it in, rather than being fully engaged in the activity of the moment - all because she would like to be able to stream music, or check her email during nap time?

That makes no sense at all. I'm a parent and do not want my kids watching their caretaker play on the phone all day. Wifi access is provided for practical purposes, but phone use is limited through out the day.

If she needs your wi-fi you need a pict and short message every 30 mins of what is being done. Sounds fair?

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread makes no sense. Why can't the nanny used her own data plan to surf the internet on her phone?

Then I won't stream music, look up directions, get ideas for crafts or activities, or do any of the myriad things that I do for a family that provides wifi. Oh, and I don't have a smart phone, I have a laptop and a flip phone with no data, so that makes a huge difference too.

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread makes no sense. Why can't the nanny used her own data plan to surf the internet on her phone?

If you are watching older independent children, then you may have more time to surf the net during work and that may be OK to the employer depending on their expectations. If you are watching younger children, you are often not meeting their needs. They need to be constantly monitored and constantly need something.

This whole thread makes no sense. Why can't the nanny used her own data plan to surf the internet on her phone?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wifi access is a nice extra perk, along the lines of fridge access, getting to leave early occasionally, getting to run personal errands, etc. If you aren't giving your nanny a single extra perk beyond the contract, it will be demoralizing. On the other hand, if you give a lot of extras, and the nanny is being churlish that she can't get every possible perk, that reflects badly on her. I'd say, in this case, context is everything.

I totally agree with your overall point, but this really caught my attention - do some NFs really not allow fridge access? Are they providing lunch instead, so nanny doesn't need to bring hers? I'm an employer and I can't imagine refusing to allow nanny's lunch in the fridge.

I'm the poster you quoted and I've always used that term to mean "access to the food contained within the fridge" I agree, it would be very weird to not let a nanny even use the fridge!

I had a family who didn't want me to use their fridge, they were orthodox and didn't want anything in the fridge that they didn't control. Of course, the tradeoff was that they provided all of my food while I was working...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wifi access is a nice extra perk, along the lines of fridge access, getting to leave early occasionally, getting to run personal errands, etc. If you aren't giving your nanny a single extra perk beyond the contract, it will be demoralizing. On the other hand, if you give a lot of extras, and the nanny is being churlish that she can't get every possible perk, that reflects badly on her. I'd say, in this case, context is everything.

I totally agree with your overall point, but this really caught my attention - do some NFs really not allow fridge access? Are they providing lunch instead, so nanny doesn't need to bring hers? I'm an employer and I can't imagine refusing to allow nanny's lunch in the fridge.

I'm the poster you quoted and I've always used that term to mean "access to the food contained within the fridge" I agree, it would be very weird to not let a nanny even use the fridge!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wifi access is a nice extra perk, along the lines of fridge access, getting to leave early occasionally, getting to run personal errands, etc. If you aren't giving your nanny a single extra perk beyond the contract, it will be demoralizing. On the other hand, if you give a lot of extras, and the nanny is being churlish that she can't get every possible perk, that reflects badly on her. I'd say, in this case, context is everything.

I totally agree with your overall point, but this really caught my attention - do some NFs really not allow fridge access? Are they providing lunch instead, so nanny doesn't need to bring hers? I'm an employer and I can't imagine refusing to allow nanny's lunch in the fridge.

No, withholding fridge access is just as odd as withholding the wifi password. Next they'll be calling toilet paper access a "perk". Some thing should just come with the territory of having people in your home.

Anonymous wrote:Wifi access is a nice extra perk, along the lines of fridge access, getting to leave early occasionally, getting to run personal errands, etc. If you aren't giving your nanny a single extra perk beyond the contract, it will be demoralizing. On the other hand, if you give a lot of extras, and the nanny is being churlish that she can't get every possible perk, that reflects badly on her. I'd say, in this case, context is everything.

I totally agree with your overall point, but this really caught my attention - do some NFs really not allow fridge access? Are they providing lunch instead, so nanny doesn't need to bring hers? I'm an employer and I can't imagine refusing to allow nanny's lunch in the fridge.

Just get a hotspot and bring your own internet.

I think you know the answer; which is that it could be useful (stream music, send pics of your kids, look up activities) or it could be abused. It could be a sign that the nanny is used to constantly staring at her phone instead of the kids.

For us, and we have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, if you are trying to survey the families, the nanny has gotten the wifi password. There was one nanny who didn't ask for it and we never gave it but after a while, I knew she was ordering pizza for the kids and such on her phone, and it got ridiculous so we just gave her the computer password as well as the wifi password.

If the nanny is on the phone too much, that is a separate issue not related to giving out the wifi password or not. She could be on the phone a lot using up her own data. It is something that should be monitored, particularly since she asked for the wifi password but I do not think there is a reason to withhold it.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is weird. I've always had access to the WiFi at work and no one has ever had an issue. I use my laptop during nap time for school work. If a family hesitated to give me the password it would definitely irritate me and have me wondering about continuing to work for them. Not because the WiFi password is so important, actually because it isn't. Why make everything into a huge deal? I dont want to work for people like that.

+1

Wifi access is a nice extra perk, along the lines of fridge access, getting to leave early occasionally, getting to run personal errands, etc. If you aren't giving your nanny a single extra perk beyond the contract, it will be demoralizing. On the other hand, if you give a lot of extras, and the nanny is being churlish that she can't get every possible perk, that reflects badly on her. I'd say, in this case, context is everything.

This thread is weird. I've always had access to the WiFi at work and no one has ever had an issue. I use my laptop during nap time for school work. If a family hesitated to give me the password it would definitely irritate me and have me wondering about continuing to work for them. Not because the WiFi password is so important, actually because it isn't. Why make everything into a huge deal? I dont want to work for people like that.