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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not want my friends nanny on holiday with us?

333 replies

Hungryhippos123 · 15/11/2025 10:05

We are meeting in Spain in May half term- me and my kids, a friend who lives in spain with her two kids and a friend from KSA who has 2 kids (just mums and kids- all age 5-10 and get on well!).
Our friend from KSA has just told us she plans to bring her nanny/maid with her. Shes a lovely Filipino lady (I have never met her but friend raves about her) as friend wants help with the kids.
I find it really uncomfortable and dont know why or if I should say no. I get that help is nice but we will all be there and her kids arent naughty or anything just normal kids! She said her nanny can help with all the kids and cook etc which I know is her norm but I find really uncomfortable. The whole dynamic will feel different and I will feel bad that the nanny will be sleeping in an office room on a blow up bed (again friend said would be fine).
AIBU? Should I just enjoy the extra help or would it bother you?

OP posts:
XWKD · 17/11/2025 01:25

Look after your own kids, and treat the slave nanny with dignity.

Morningsleepin · 17/11/2025 01:16

I doesn't sound like your friend values her children very much. If I had to hire someone to look after my children I would treat them very well

ACatNamedRobin · 17/11/2025 00:33

FenceBooksCycle · 15/11/2025 11:55

I think yanbu and I would pull out of the holiday. There's a totally different dynamic in a situation where friends are enjoying a holiday together vs a hierarchical situation where one of the adults is in a servant role, working their job and not on holiday at all. It would nake me feel really uncomfortable and unable to relax and I don't think it would be at all good for the children to be shown so bluntly that the ideals of equality and fairness are actually just lipservice.

@FenceBooksCycle
Sure how is this different from say there being a housekeeper with the villa?
Or a hotel waiter at a hotel?

Some people work in hospitality, so they'll be working when others are on holidays, and providing services for them.

Bones101 · 17/11/2025 00:29

A blow up bed. Shocking

goingoffonatangentagain · 16/11/2025 23:58

Some of us reading are not many generations from rural poverty. It won't do. It's not okay to treat workers differently because they come from poverty and should be grateful for access to a flushing loo.

The Monica Dickens memoir captures these attitudes in the 1930s - employers wanting to save money and refusing to see their staff as skilled and capable. She tried to give lectures on this after her own experience of domestic work:

“One Pair of Hands”, the Mystery of the Missing Chapter | Yankee Skeptic

“One Pair of Hands”, the Mystery of the Missing Chapter

We all have books that are life long favorites. My favorite book to lend or purchase for anyone in “One Pair of Hands” by Monica Dickens. Yes she is a direct relation of Charles Dickens…

https://yankeeskeptic.com/2022/04/16/one-pair-of-hands-the-mystery-of-the-missing-chapter/

Smartiepants79 · 16/11/2025 23:53

LilyTheLD77 · 16/11/2025 14:59

Isn't it racist to think that not all cultures are equally valid?

Poor working conditions and poor pay are not a ‘culture’. They’re just the outcome of a less developed country with less economic stability and less available education and opportunities.
People being under paid and treated like second class citizens is not something to be celebrated or supported no matter how common it is in any country.

AlltheHedgehogsontheWall · 16/11/2025 23:49

I don't think the employment contract your friend has with her nanny is any of your business, unless you have evidence of abusive behaviour or breach of employment law.

If you work in a restaurant you don't expect to be provided with a 3 course meal at the finest table, there'll be a standard staff meal provided which won't be as fancy.

If you're working as a nanny on holiday you won't get the best room.

Sparklybutold · 16/11/2025 23:35

The extra help on holiday would be welcome, the sleeping arrangements on the other hand would not be. To expect her to sleep on a blow up bed is awful.

CementCement · 16/11/2025 23:25

GiantTeddyIsTired · 16/11/2025 22:47

Like i said, I work with Filipinos - my colleague on a work do was talking about her maid, who she'd hired from her home island (where she grows sugar-cane - she is a finance director herself). She had to teach the girl how to use a normal toilet, because on the island, they just disappear round the corner and wee/defecate on the beach.

I don't think people quite understand how different live is on rural islands vs. say Manila (which is a metropolis). How sleeping on an airbed in the kitchen is totally fine for the salary vs. what it would be at home (sand floor in a reed hut)

If you haven't actually met people, talked to them, lived with them, I don't think you can quite understand, and it's very patronising.

Yes, treat fairly, but understand that if you tipped (say £100) then you are placing an obligation on her in return. In my company, the Filipino staff get Christmas boxes of oil and rice to take home to their families, and they have good conditions compared to other local companies.

This all smacks of white saviour. Don't be a jerk, treat her fairly, but don't patronise.

Read that back and blush. That smacks of white apologist.

Exploitation is fine because the employee is very poor back home, according to her employer? And you trust the employer’s word on this because she’s also from the Philippines?

Tickingcrocodile · 16/11/2025 23:13

I wouldn't be comfortable if somebody else's nanny was expected to babysit my DC and cook for me/them regardless of their nationality. I wouldn't want to be offering to pay them for these services either when I'm quite happy to do them myself. I can't see how a holiday between you all will work if the rest of you are planning days out with the kids etc while she plans to leave her kids with the nanny.

GiantTeddyIsTired · 16/11/2025 22:47

Like i said, I work with Filipinos - my colleague on a work do was talking about her maid, who she'd hired from her home island (where she grows sugar-cane - she is a finance director herself). She had to teach the girl how to use a normal toilet, because on the island, they just disappear round the corner and wee/defecate on the beach.

I don't think people quite understand how different live is on rural islands vs. say Manila (which is a metropolis). How sleeping on an airbed in the kitchen is totally fine for the salary vs. what it would be at home (sand floor in a reed hut)

If you haven't actually met people, talked to them, lived with them, I don't think you can quite understand, and it's very patronising.

Yes, treat fairly, but understand that if you tipped (say £100) then you are placing an obligation on her in return. In my company, the Filipino staff get Christmas boxes of oil and rice to take home to their families, and they have good conditions compared to other local companies.

This all smacks of white saviour. Don't be a jerk, treat her fairly, but don't patronise.

scottishGirl · 16/11/2025 16:12

I worked as an Aupair and I loved going on holiday with the families I worked for. Great opportunity to see somewhere new while being paid and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with the families..they were like my own extended family for the time I worked with them 😊 everyone's situation is of course different, it sounds like this is someone who is a full time nanny, not just doing it for a couple of years like I did. But wanted to share my perspective.

I don't like the idea of her on a blow up bed though...she should have a proper bed. Definitely also need to have conversations about extra pay if she is going to be asked to look after all the kids for any length of time. Personally, I wouldn't have agreed to look after that many kids myself even with extra pay unless some of the kids are older and more self sufficient.

mummydoorgirl · 16/11/2025 15:57

Look at it another way. This person is working for her living and may well not have opportunity to take a trip otherwise even if it’s for work. Instead of objecting to her coming (and preventing her from earning) go along with it and make a particular point of being thankful, respectful and compensate her at the end of the week with a generous tip especially if she babysits your DC too, nobody gets upset at being handed and envelope at the end of the week with a warm thank you . Make a point of checking ( in front of everyone) which day/s she will be having as her free time. I’m sure you’ll find having someone who can watch the children whilst you enjoy lunch dinner with your friends a positive.
rather than pitying her do what you can to make her experience positive and financially rewarding.

Dweetfidilove · 16/11/2025 15:51

The sleeping arrangements sound quite shoddy. I cam see why she sings the nanny's praises, if she doesn't even provide suitable accommodation. She can take the nanny of she wishes, but I would be very uncomfortable with someone being on holiday in an office, on a blow up bed ☹️.

MarriedinMaui · 16/11/2025 15:40

Omg take the extra help! She will make your holiday so much better and be an extra pair of hands to tidy and keep the kitchen clean. Make sure you give her a generous tip at the end of the holiday.

LilyTheLD77 · 16/11/2025 14:59

thepariscrimefiles · 16/11/2025 14:53

I'm assuming that OP's friend is from the UK but is living in KSA so her culture is western. She could treat her domestic staff according to western norms by paying decent wages, giving them time off and their own private bedrooms. She is choosing to exploit them as is the cultural norm in KSA and I judge her for it.

Fortunately, due to the rise of the Trade Union movement from the late 19th century and the brave workers who risked their jobs and their lives fighting for decent pay and conditions, if OP's friend lived in the UK, it would be illegal for her to treat her nanny in this way.

Isn't it racist to think that not all cultures are equally valid?

thepariscrimefiles · 16/11/2025 14:53

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I'm assuming that OP's friend is from the UK but is living in KSA so her culture is western. She could treat her domestic staff according to western norms by paying decent wages, giving them time off and their own private bedrooms. She is choosing to exploit them as is the cultural norm in KSA and I judge her for it.

Fortunately, due to the rise of the Trade Union movement from the late 19th century and the brave workers who risked their jobs and their lives fighting for decent pay and conditions, if OP's friend lived in the UK, it would be illegal for her to treat her nanny in this way.

GoldenRosebee · 16/11/2025 14:51

ContentedAlpaca · 16/11/2025 14:34

My husband did some work recently in UAE.

His translator was not allowed to drink water while on shift.
Was expected to carry the heavy computer equipment for him

Was he racist to be upset at her working conditions?

But it's not the same with this nanny. I'm pretty certain this nanny has water and food and paycheck... she will just have to sleep in office during the friends holiday.
What we don't know will she be paid more for extra work. We don't know arrangement OP friend has with nanny. I'm not sure blow back bed is what nanny will actually end up sleeping. OP isn't organizing holiday, it's third friend who does.

It's not racist to be worried about worker's poor conditions, but this nanny isn't really in poor condition. Assuming she is to be paid more during this trip and bed is suitable, she will simply end up working like she done already.

It is racist to automatically assume friend is horrible because she employs someone to work for her, it is racist to assume nanny is mistreated, and it is racist to believe this mum friend doesn't parent her own children. If mum and nanny are in same room, children will always go to mum, so she can't not not parent the kids.

LilyTheLD77 · 16/11/2025 14:38

ContentedAlpaca · 16/11/2025 14:34

My husband did some work recently in UAE.

His translator was not allowed to drink water while on shift.
Was expected to carry the heavy computer equipment for him

Was he racist to be upset at her working conditions?

How did he show his opposition so that his translator was given better working conditions? Did he refuse to work with his translator's employers?

ContentedAlpaca · 16/11/2025 14:34

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

My husband did some work recently in UAE.

His translator was not allowed to drink water while on shift.
Was expected to carry the heavy computer equipment for him

Was he racist to be upset at her working conditions?

LilyTheLD77 · 16/11/2025 14:33

This reply has been deleted

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LilyTheLD77 · 16/11/2025 14:26

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thepariscrimefiles · 16/11/2025 14:22

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WTF? So because I am concerned that the nanny won't have her own bedroom with a bed and some privacy and will be sleeping on the floor of an office, I and the other posters who are also concerned are being racist and the people who say that she'll be fine on the floor as she comes from a poor country and she should just be grateful that she has a job are the non-racists?

Who exactly is the victim of our racism? The nanny or the western woman who is comfortable with treating the nanny as a second class citizen?

ContentedAlpaca · 16/11/2025 14:20

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I don't understand your post how is the idea of another woman being treated as a second class citizen (and the op being a reluctant part of that) racist?

MzHz · 16/11/2025 14:14

I would express my concerns to the host friend tbh, and say how extremely uncomfortable I am about the arrangements.

if these friends think all this is ok, tbh tho, I’d be rethinking my friendship with them