What duties do nannies do which they feel are part of their job but you feel are beyond the call of duty?

Hmmm in some staffed houses the jobs overlap, in some they most certainly do NOT. Depends on the attitude of the employers and the individual staff. Personally I'd hate to work in the kind of environment where the staff couldn't pull together and cover for each other. I'm eternally grateful to one housekeeper for cleaning my charge's room and bathroom during the school holidays even though it was my job not hers because she could see I had enough to do! But in return charge and I used to do the market shop a couple of times a week in the holidays so she didn't have to. Snobby nanny may have worked in the sort of households where the distinction was much more marked (and was probably very lonely).

I must be one of the few people on MN that has spent a bit of time living in a fully staffed house, and I think that the snobby nanny mentioned would be very surprised how much other people's jobs overlapped. I think my housekeeper would have been pretty miffed if the plumbing packed up while she was off the premises and the nanny refused to do anything about it 'because it was someone else's job'. Basically common sense has to prevail.

"I've always said I'm willing to do things within reason to contribute to the smooth running of the house but some nannies flat out refuse. In this climate you need to make yourself as attractive as possible so yes, willingness to do this is becoming more standard (why shoot yourself in the foot?) and therefore the expectation is becoming more standard. IMO."

I couldn't agree more. My current bosses interviewed another "top calibre" nanny who said she ONLY did child care. No cleaning/tidying/laundry/cooking/errands ("surely you have other staff for that?" she said LOL)

I think I am sometimes too flexible/willing/soft. But I also LOVE what I do. So as long as I am appreciated I will err on the side of going above and beyond rather than not be helpful enough IYSWIM.

It's easy if you're in a big city - in Paris the dry cleaner was on the way to school, everything was in walking distance and I had the time so it was fine to run errands like that. Less fine to say 'we can't go to the library/park/museum because we need to sort a problem in a room you and I don't use'. When I was working the deepest, darkest (erm) Oxfordshire the nearest dry cleaner was a long car trip and all our toddler groups were much more local, so we'd have had to make a special trip and sometimes the 'request'(demand) was made on a day we had regular activities planned. Or 'the cleaner's on holiday so could you do X, Y and Z'?

I think some things are expected as standard - if you're in the house and something goes wrong you fix it/wait for the plumber. If you're going out anyway then taking the dry cleaning/picking up some bits and pieces isn't exactly difficult. Likewise receiving the Test online shop or a one off to receive a delivery of something expensive (with a bit of respect for your weekly schedule, so arranging for it to be a free morning/afternoon when you could be at home without missing something).

I can't comment on the relative change over time about what's expected - you need nick or blondes for that - but over 5 years I've always said I'm willing to do things within reason to contribute to the smooth running of the house but some nannies flat out refuse. In this climate you need to make yourself as attractive as possible so yes, willingness to do this is becoming more standard (why shoot yourself in the foot?) and therefore the expectation is becoming more standard. IMO.

AP employer rather than nanny, and if I had time I would argue with Pix about the "essentially people after cheap nannies" comment.

I would not expect or ask a large number of the things appearing on the lists here, expecially anything (laundry/dry cleaning/repairs) to do with my clothes.

The two main one for us are, taking in the Tesco delivery on a Tursday or Friday on weeks when we are away at the weekend, and driving me to the local bus station so I can get a bus to work where there is a social in the evening (this is two or three times a year).

Our nanny is always very happy to do any small errands that I would do if I were around - taking things to the dry cleaners, calling a plumber, taking the car to the car wash, going to the post office to collect a parcel. I only ask her to do things if I think the dcs will find it vaguely interesting/informative. ds adores the car wash, for instance, and thinks it's a huge treat to go - so everyone is a winner. And I know the dry cleaners doesn't sound much fun but the guy who works there keeps a glove puppet under the counter and entertains the children with a puppet show while his colleague gets the stuff. I wouldn't ask her to do something that was just for me and I do try not to take advantage.

No, I was thinking of mending/altering children's clothes.

Dropping things off/picking things up at the dry cleaner's is so easy if you are out and about during the day - it's an errand that combines with other things, like going to toddler group - and so hard when you are at work all day that it would seem quite reasonable to ask the person who was doing the other day time errands to do it.

Mending/altering PARENT'S clothes?

Dry cleaning is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with plans for the children but when parents expect that to be done as a priority over going to toddler group then it becomes unreasonable.

Nannies aren't around to look after parents. Fixing stuff when it goes wrong around the house is fair enough, but sometimes it gets a bit out of hand and nanny is expected to do absolutely everything as standard.

The au pair contract has changed, in line with people's changed expectations (in the UK au pairs are domestic employees like any other with no special regulatory status).

I'm not sure why nannies shouldn't do a lot of the duties outlined on this thread - mending/altering clothes or running errands like dry cleaning are quite reasonable, as are big household jobs that aren't very onerous, like defrosting the fridge. But wiring and decorating seem to me way beyond the call of duty!

One thing though: do you all feel that these things are becoming more and more expected out of nannies/au pairs and less appreciated? I've noticed more being expected out of au pairs (essentially people after cheap nannies) but can the same be said about nannies?

I know I do a lot more then I should. Sometimes I mind and sometimes I don't but I know I would like to be thanked every once in a while.
I regularly:
Drop off and collect dry cleaning
Drive bosses to airport etc
Take car to mechanic
Clean out fridge/pantry
Cater for house guests
Organise paretns filing
Buy things for parents (not kid related)
Parents laundry
Arranging for tradesman (tradesperson?)to come
Clean parts of the house I am not meant to
I am sure I could go on and on

Au pair rather than nanny, but ours sometimes got up in the night when toddler woke up, which was way beyond call of duty and very much appreciated!

i have down loads of things while at work that probably arnt nanny jobs

stripping wall paper
helping pull wires through when boss rewiring
holding ladders that DB is climbing
giving orders to the builders
clearing leaves
clearing up dog sick / poo
taking sick dog to vets
taking dog to doggy hairdresser
feed /walking dogs
helping with everything when moving house
de-leafing the swimming pool
taking things back to shops
calling burglar alarm fixy people out when alarm broke and bosses were on holiday
driven bosses to / from garage when their car was broken

probably loads more of other stuff.... and then my bosses have done stuff for me...
rewired my TV ariel, lent me a digi box when mine broke
lent me tools / cake tins etc,
come and worked out how to programme my boiler
picked up me when my car in garage
im sure i could go on and on there too!

it's nice to have a bit of give and take. Our nanny is a share, so I don't expect her to do household duties, though the share is always based at our house. I do really appreciate it though when she empties the dishwasher, or even hangs out laundry once and a while. DH wanted to ask her to wait around the house once to take delivery of our new laptop, with a 5-hour delivery window, and I felt that was unreasonable and managed to get it myself on my day at home.

Have to add, that the majority of the cat offerings were dead (obv the half eaten rats!) But occasionally had to catch live mice and birds.......

I defrosted the fridge at work the other day, as it wouldn't shut properly. Spent the time the babies were napping using the hair dryer to speed it up, gave it a good clean too.

Have changed light bulbs and fuses, when the db at the time was an electrician

Cleaned up cat offerings of birds, voles, mice and half eaten rats.... Took said cat to be neutered too.

Have helped out with lots of pets, from cleaning out fish, dog walking and mucking out ponies.

Do lots of stuff around the house that strictly isn't my job, bosses laundry, bedding, tidying up, cleaning the fireplace out, emptying the dishwasher, etc, etc. My thought is that as mb and db out all day, they don't want to get back and have to start with all that!

Alot of it is common sense really.

I do loads that is not in my 'job description' if such a thing counts for anything these days. In my household there are other staff - in the old days they would have been called nursery maids but not sure what the description is today who the nursery chores are divided up between but tbh I do most of them because they don't do them properly. Initiative should be a pre-requisite. I run errands, replace things if I can see we need them but the big shop isn't due, make costumes, clean areas that isn't my job to clean but I use them. I've helped build furniture, redecorated playrooms and bedrooms, deal with builders, tradesmen etc. I always do the childrens mending and clothes alterations and things like unload the dishwasher if it needs it and no one else has done it.
It makes my life easier too and also gives me bargaining power as my bosses know I do loads that I don't have to do and are more likely to be flexible should I need it though don't usually use it

Agree with thenewbornnanny

Even if you're in the house and your boss sort of expects you to do things that need doing it's nice to thank them and possible treat them to something, especially if it's an urgent ishoo like plumbing. Something which really niggled about my old boss was that stuff would go wrong in the house, which I would sort (sometimes having had to ring her to find out the number for the plumber/electrician), but she would never thank me. TBH I almost felt like not doing it, but dealing with something broken in the house for 3/4 days if it went wrong when she was on a long business trip (as it invariable did) was more hassle than sorting it. And sometimes stuff would go wrong over the weekend but she would leave me to sort it. Grrr.

I am the House Manager as well as Nanny in my current position so most of the time I get tradesmen in/arrange anything and everything without seeking prior permission as it's my job to Get Stuff Done so my bosses don't have to worry about it. I will email and tell them what the issue is, what I have done about it, and the costs involved after the fact. They trust my judgement and as I live here too it's in my best interest to keep the house running in tip top order! The problem I have is the language barrier, many Dutch tradesmen don't speak much English and I have had a crash course in Dutch plumbing terminology recently, as well as different paint types, how to find a propane gas canister, online grocery ordering, where to get certain things... it's a huge learning curve but I LOVE being able to show my initiative/responsibility and get stuff done. I'm so good apparently my Mumboss told Dadboss he was now obsolete (actually Dadboss deliberately does a bad job so he's not asked to do anything again. Tres annoying and a tad immature.)

I think if a Nanny goes above the call of duty they should at the very least be thanked profusely if not treated to a bottle of wine/chocs/flowers to say thanks. I would hate to have a Nanny who just did the bare minimum though, especially if they ignored plumbing issues etc. They are there to help make you're life easier to a point, so showing initiative is an important part of that IMHO.

I would have no idea what to do in the situ you were in nannynick, tb-blatantly-h!

I agree that the nanny is the person in the home as well as the person caring for the child, and as a live-in nanny I try to care for the house as if it were my own.

Noticed prob with heating boiler and waited in for men to come fix it, cleaned the fridges, collect parcels from post office, and sew/mend clothes as necessary. Just part of the job.

BTW, nice work on halting the sewage Nick!!
Hope MB grateful...

I would feel that it were part of my job to do things like that, however I would always double check with my boss before I did anything as I'm never sure if they'd appreciate my efforts or get annoyed with me for doing it wrong, iyswim?

As Nick and Blondes say, your the person in the house, i have rodded a blocked pipe as could see blockage was between to openings, have opened and dried out a tumble dryer, made up Ikea furniture, hung pictures & curtains and changed a light bulb fitting, but i am DIY trained by my Dad and DH is also handy.

I recently did a whole slew of sewing/mending for the family i was with as MB can't sew, not my job but meant MB, DB and baby had things back that weren't wearable before, also fixed on strap guide on the pram that was coming unstitched and constructed a painting that was shipped in 3 parts.

Nick, if you were my nanny I would jump for joy with your proven initiative.