I am a part time nanny - AIBU to get fed up doing household chores such as washing, ironing, general house hold chores when i am babysititng in the evening....?

I think it's fair enough you should do a bit of the ironing pile plus the additional duties you mention (kitchen/bathtime etc), but obviously would be unreasonable to expect you to do the whole lot.

WhyHavePets - yes see your point there

I think I was 11 when we got our phone (landline) My mum didnt get anutomatic washing machine until I was approx 14!!

Im gonna have to think about a job change.

Mind you no one would want me ironing their shirts, I can put creases in non crease shirts!!

Agree it's the goal posts that have been moved and more work expected is the problem regardless of what op gets paid whether £6 or £10 or £20ph

Firefrakkers - OK, I take your point - arbitrarily adding duties without discussion and agreement is not on.

IMO £10/hour is a red herring anyway. Depends on the area and the nanny how much they get - someone with 20years experience could get £10net and legitimately expect not to do cleaning whereas someone with only 5 years experience might be expected to clean to bring their salary up to £10/hour.

It's the changing of the goalposts which is disrespectful though. The OP is doing childcare and housework for £10/hour in an arrangement where no ironing was agreed. Then her employer decided that she should do the ironing as well....

Now from a nanny POV I'm willing to do many thing as long as they're agreed in advance, including laundry and ironing. What I wouldn't be willing to do is sit by and have my workload upped with no additional compensation - so I'd be billing them for the ironing services as that wouldn't come under the duties agreed in my contract but I do get paid extra for loosely defined 'additional duties'.

I don't think it's at all unreasonable to have expectations of nannies to some some housework - as long as it's agreed and both parties are happy with it. Arbitrarily announcing that the nanny you employed to do childcare now has to do housework, or the nanny you employed with the expectation of nursery duties now has to do your cleaning is unreasonable.

Frankly, at £10 per hour, I do expect housework as well as childminding, but I have always made that clear from the start. Although I also make it v clear that DD comes first ie no housework if she is awake.

If I was only paying £5-6 per hour, wouldn't expect anything beyond babysitting, but £10 per hour changes things for me.

As it is, I have a full time nanny who we pay £8 per hour (plus tax and NI makes it approx £11.30 gross per hour), which makes her more expensive per hour than OP (£10 per hour gross) but I understand that to be a competitive rate in central London.

And being even more strident, I would find another babysitter if I was presented w a bill for the ironing at the end of the month. Admittedly, the most I ask for is 5 shirts to be ironed and some general tidying, but that's not the point - don't think its reasonable for a babysitter on £10 per hour to object to doing housework. Not had a problem finding a willing babysitter, either.

Again, apologies if this seems harsh, OP, just being frank.

asked this at coffee morning today and no nannies there have ever been asked or made to do extra duties when babysitting - literally just bathing/putting kids to bed (if not already in bed) and then watching tv and keeping eye/ear out

I have always asked my Nannies to iron my DHs shirts when DTs are napping (5 shirts a week).

I think light housework during nap time is a perfectly reasonable request. And I have made this a clear requirement at the interview stage.

Yes I remember those days - infact I remember being 12 before we had a house phone, before that we had to walk 1.5 mile to the telephone box! Ah, those were the days

Anyway, back on topic! At £5 per hour I would be quite happy but at £10 per hour I would want more IYSWIM.

WhyHavePets - No one had Sky back then
No one had mobiles either,
Blimey it was 20+ years ago, I cant remember what I got paid, not alot I should imagine.

I have a 12yr old and a 9yr old, on the odd occassion we do go out hubbie and I, I dont expect our baby sitter to do anything.
She charges us £5 an hour, we generally give her a bit more than we owe, coz Im so bloomin gratefull she'll sit with the pair of them.

Meant to add - bill her for it at the end of the month

That's definitely not on. She can't just add to your duties like that.

Asking you to put on the odd load of washing is fine - it's mucking in around the house and silly not to IMO - but leaving you a huge pile of ironing because she can't afford to pay anyone else to do it is just unfair.

Hmm, well adding to your work load to save herself money without discussion or extra pay is out of order IMO. If it was always part of the job then fine but not to add it in this manner!

Without a contract it's tough to say because the contract, as well as setting out your rights and responsibilities and those of your employer, is there to say what you do and do not do as part of your job.

Is it babysitting or is the evening a continuation of your nannying duties? If it's a continuation then it's not unreasonable to ask you to do child related chores or light housekeeping if that was part of the original arrangement.

Even as a babysitter-babysitter (so just there for the evening to supervise) I would always tidy up after myself/the children if they'd been playing with toys, wash up the baby's bottle. It's basically leaving the house as you found it.

I pay my teen babysitter £6 per hour. She is either in for an hour or two while the kids are awake, and she plays with them a bit. No chores. Or she comes in after they have gone to sleep, and gets on with her school work.

I pay my student babysitter £10 per hour, she is expected to feed the kids and get them ready to bed, and put them to sleep. She comes on a monday for 2 1/2 hours, and is paid £25. If she also mops the floor, which I sometimes ask her to do, she gets paid £10 extra. We have oak floors throughout the kitchen and open plan living room, so quite a lot of mopping. Then the pine staircase, and the oak floor downstairs in the entrance hallway.

But what did you earn MJB? I was well paid as a teen baby sitter but that meant doing more. If I wanted to pay a few quid then I could get in a teen and provide shite to eat, sky tv and block all mobile numbers from the landline . However I would rather pay a bit more and get something more for it!

So exactly what is a baby sitter now days..
When I was a teen and used to baby sit, that is what what you did, sat and watched the telly listening out for the children if they were to wake?
Prehaps I was lucky, the children were normally in bed and asleep when I got there?

Where I am £10 ph would get you a full up nanny/housekeeper. I have no idea where you are so that may not be representative!

I would expect ironing and a tidy round of toys after the dc are in bed. I certainly always had to do that and that was when I was babysitting as a teen - I also had to give tea and wash up after... TBH I don't think ironing is unreasonable but I would think "oh can you clean the bathroom and prepare tomorrows tea" would be IYSWIM.

Agree with bunnymother.

what were you employed as nanny, nanny/housekeeper or babysitter. do you only go round in the even to babysit or have you been there since after school time.

Perhaps offer to be paid less and not do chores !!!

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I expect household tidying and ironing as part of evening babysitting (assuming you are nanny/housekeeper rather than purely nanny) once DC/s have gone to bed. You are still getting paid £10 per hour. Appreciate that you may be tired as you have your own DCs and just gone back to work but that wouldn't change my expectations. Possibly not the most supportive post but hope it helps re getting a variety of perspectives.

£10 an hour to sit on your bum watching TV - where do I sign ?
I don't think it's unreasonable to ask you to do a bit, maybe for 50% of the time of ironing or tidying.