Concerns about my nanny

Mmmm, I think the point is that if you are paying someone to look after your child and tidy up after him/her, then you do expect the place to be tidy at the end of the day - bins emptied, toys put away etc. The last thing I want to do when I come home is to walk into a place that looks a tip, with toys etc all over the place. She is being paid to do a job and she is not doing it. Have a gentle word.

I think waterlillie it totally depends on how important this stuff is to you; I agree with justaphase that it is appropriate for the areas the child is playing in not to be actually dirty; but other than that, for me, I would prob. not even clock the state of the house but be much more interested in everything they had done together that day;

the days when I had been the best mum to my ds were the days when the house was at it's worst;
kitchen NUKED during process of making a sponge cake together; patio doors smeared in poster paints after an attempt at painting on glass like in smarteenies; various constructions of bricks left as booby traps all over the house left over from archtitecture training sessions, and not to mention that play-do that I am leaving there on purpose to dry in the carpet as it's easir to get out when dry...

I'm a nanny and have looked after all age ranges of chldren over the years and yes toddlers are exhausting but it's certainly not too much to ask to expect bins to be emptied, washing and ironing done, toys to be put away and meals to be cooked. My 2 year old has just started nursery and whilst it is every morning for 3 hours i have time on my hands if i get stuck in with my jobs.

Some of the jobs i do are - Waitrose shop, clean up toys, washing and ironing, run errands, change kids beds, cook from scratch and general taking care of clothes, toys etc so i buy more if they are too small and regulary wash the toys. At the end of the day i leave the kitchen clean and tidy and make sure the floor is clean.

I look after 3 children so have tripple the washing and ironing and have always managed it on top of doing a 65hour week so i must admit i don't have that much sympathy for your nanny she seems a bit lazy. Maybe you should write a diary of what you expect everyday and she can tick them off at the end of the day. I would be mortified if my employer bought something like that to my attention in the first place let alone not do anything about it.

I expect my nanny to do nursery duties - baby's washing, tidying his room, sterilising all equipment etc. She changes his bedding, washes up after cooking, vacuums the living room floor every other day as he crawls there.

She actually does more than I ask - the house is always tidier when I come back from work then when I leave in the morning.

Looking after a child is exhausting but this is what she is paid to do. And it includes titying up after him (and herself). Once she has finished her work she can have as much rest as she likes as far as I am concerned.

Message withdrawn

If she is giving good quality, loving attention and playing with your dd in a way that stimulates her, then I think the nanny should have whatever time 'off' in the day that presents itself.

This is certainly how I survived looking after a toddler!

If you are playing and interacting with a toddler most of the day, it IS exhausting....I desperately needed time to myself in the halcyon days when ds had a daytime nap.

Somedays if you have visited my house the bin would have been full of nappies, books and toys ALL over the place, I can't tell you the chaos we had sometimes. I relied on DH helping me at the end of some days....

Most days however, I tidied up when ds napped, and prepared our dinner for that evening, and did all this at top speed so that I could sit down with a coffee and magazine before he woke....however, I am ds' mum, it's my house and that's what I was interested in doing; I think a nanny is a different thing altogether.

I wouldn't expect her to tidy round or empty bins - her job is to care for your dd in the best way possible and so long as she's doing that, then great.