Nanny accessing internet to view inappropriate content

emnn: agree with her own log on id.

however , i think the op inbu: if nanny were being employed by a company rather than a person, then there's no way in the world she'd be allowed to look at that kind of site, indeed any site where she can purchase something unless she had permission from the boss and/or it was directly relevant to her job. (still wouldn't be allowed to purchase)

i have the impression that none of you who said yabu have ever had a job in a proper company (please don't be mad at me for saying this, but i've had a lot of jobs at a lot of different companies and every single one would not allow sites of a sexual nature or personal shopping)

a) As others have said could be dh and not the nanny (sorry)

B) it is not porn

c) regarding nannies surfing or doing other stuff: long gone the days when nannies had to rely on family's pc or phone line. Most of them have i-phone anyway. So basically you cant stop them. In my first years of nannying we didn't even have mobiles (yes i 'm old) you couldn't text or phone your bf. But nowdays how can you monitor how long the nanny spends on her i-phone? You cant. You just have to accept it and make sure you trust her in children's health and safety issues.

I dont see that looking up about sexually transmitted infections is any different to looking up about symptons of a chest infection I am a school nurse and we try to encourage young people to talk about their symptons and seek advice and not to be embarassed an infection is an infection wherever it is. Also buying condoms is being safe sexual health wise and who says she was seeking information for herself about STI's as I often look on these sites for work and even if she had searched condoms on google often other sites may come up so she could have got their by accident.

perhaps her own log in for the computer would be sensible and your children having different log ins with parental controls set.

Also I would hope you monitor your childrens iinternet access anyway so they couldnt accidentally come across the sites she viewed as you would be watching them.

If you had told nanny no using the computer in work hours and this is in her contract then yes you have cause for concern.

what made you go and check what sites the nanny had been on in the first place??

also are you sure its the nanny and not your partner who has been accessing these sites?

Have you got anything in your contract regarding internet/computer usage?

I have in mine that I'm only to use internet if children are sleeping or at outside activities and all my other duties are done. Also that internet searches relate to child related topics. Perhaps might be worth adding if not already.

Well, tbh I for one wouldn't order condoms or look at such websites while I was at work. Time and a place for everything and all that.

if the nanny is allowed to use your computer, then i dont think you can yell at her for trying to be responsible

and are you 100% it was her and not dh/dp?

is it the fact she was using the computer or the fact what she was looking at that annoys you - ie if she had been on a holiday site, would you be annoyed

how do you know that she was looking at that site when they were there, ie not at nursery/asleep or do you have a log in time for all sites?

If she is not supposed to use the computer/internet during work hours then fair enough - it's not the content of the sites that would bother me. If she works long days and doesn't have a computer at home then she may not get a chance to look any other time. Do you have a policy on internet usage at all in the contract?

If you want to bring it up to her, I would just say that the boys mentioned they were playing in the garden while she was on the computer, and you would rather she didn't use it during work hours.

given that the children were safely playing in garden and she viewed alone YABU

however it is tangential thinking to turn this into her body her right to access in her paid employment time,give her a medal for being so heroic/responsible/empowered

this does not alter her abilities to be good nanny.so dont act hastily or say anything rash

annh - minimise

lol. i've been doing online research on transgender issues and do occasionally log on to capture a screen shot whilst the kids are around... dh doesn't particularly like it when there's a huge ad for massive monster throbbing pleasure rocket or whatever towering across the screen but so far the kids remain oblivious...

have never ordered condoms online though. dh has had the snip.

poor nanny, she would be mortified

my nanny's were always allowed to use the computer during the day - i have no idea what they were looking at tbh, how on earth did you find out anyway? do you do a check of the history every night?

If the children were in the garden and unlikely to see the screen then I can't see the problem. Personally I wouldn't use my work computer to look at information about STIs but can't see how this is a breach of contract (unless she's banned from using the computer)

For me, the rule of thumb is always whether I would do the same in that situation. So if you think you would be happy to order condoms youself or look up info on STIs while your children are around, then it should be OK for the nanny. Personally speaking, I wouldn't do it - in fact, I'm even selective in which bits of Mumsnet I read when my 8-year old is around because he can read a lot faster than I thought!

See I am a sexual health professional and soon to be mother- afraid my computer is always viewing this type of content and my house is full of condom demonstrators, condoms and leaflets about STI's. My kids are probably going to be exposed to this stuff from a very young age and will be warped forever!

I think good on your nanny for taking her sexual health so seriously and chill out about it somewhat- if she was viewing porn or something like that then a different and more serious matter but in this case she was looking up stuff to protect herself and that is important. In fact I wouldn't be bothered if my (future) kids saw the content and asked what it is- learning about sexual health (at an age appropriate level) can never start too early in my book (although i appreciate many parents may disagree with my view).

I don't know. I mean mumsnetting is one thing, but ordering condoms is something I would not do at work. And if I was looking after young children, I don't think it would be appropriate to have these things on my screen where the might sneak up behind me and say "What's that?"

You're overreacting. And it would be a serious breach of HER privacy if you mentioned this to her

you've employed a person, not a robot. And a quick informative search on the internet while the kids are playing happily in the garden is a perfectly reasonable thing for an adult to do while in charge of children.

If the nanny works a full 12 hour day and does not have a computer at home how is she meant to find out this info? If I had a quiet 5 mins and was desperate to find out something I would do it at work. Libraries are not open that late. Internet cafes are expensive and always busy. It was not porn. The kids were not going to die by being in the garden alone (do you leave them in the garden alone?). If she was plonking the kids on front of the tv for 5 hours a day and then facebooking for hours on end then I would be concerned.

I agree with the majority of posters
Nanny sounds very sensible...looking after her own sexual health.
Would you be cross if it were any other website? ...would the fact that she was looking at another website (while the boys were in the garden) still annoy you?
I think the only thing you have bones to have her about would be if she is not allowed to use your pc/not allowed to leave the boys unattended for any time.

Mummy369 you mean none of us are agreeing with the op? Too right. Her nanny sounds pretty sensible to me
and I hardly think her boys will be scarred for life by seeing a website full of text or playing in the garden unsupervised for five minutes. Unless she grows some sort of deadly plant of course.

Mind you, have bookmarked the website that SCB mentioned at the beginning. Sounds good so am going to have a look at it while dd is watching the Night Garden

....how old are the kids?

"Inappropriate content" YABU

No more inappropriate than MN which I go on all the time when my dc's are around. When you are a nanny you have to be able to do some of your own things during work hours, that's just the way it is. You go to the bank, phone your insurance company and use the internet.

Well I am a nurse and have occasionally used the internet in work for personal use... doesn't make me crap at my job or unprofessional.

You are being unreasonable... If she was online for hours at a time then fair enough, but the content of what she looks at has naff all to do with you.

What she said.

HG, tis a waste of time, I know.

Redhen, hope you found all our useless advice, um, useful.

Erm, buying condoms doesn't mean you didn;t use one the last time you had sex. It means you have run out and need some more.
If redhen has forbidden the nanny to use the computer when she is looking after the DC then that's fair enough (though I wonder if redhen ever goes on MN when she is alone with her DC?) but if her worry is that the DC might inadvertently see what is in the web history then an information site on sexual health is not, actually, that dreadful a thing for children to see. It's unlikely to be full of great big pictures of throbbing or diseased genitalia, far more likely to be lots of text with the odd thumbnail pic.

Redhen, if you haven;t already done so you should perhaps clarify with the nanny whether or not she is allowed to use your computer but have this discussion as though she had been going on Facebook/ordering her groceries online. Do not make a big issue out of your assumptions surrounding her sexual choices. Because her sex life is absolutely none of your business.

Don't bite the bait hobbgoblin