Is it OK to ask nanny to cook one big meal ?

[gagahagahah]

Is that fair ? She cooks for DD anyway, so I tend to ask her to just make a big meal instead which everyone ( including herself if she wants, can eat).

Or is this out of line ?

Also, is it OK to ask nanny to load / unload dishwasher and do DDs washing, if time allows ? It is that out of line ?

Duties need to be upfront and clear. If you want her to cook a family meal / wash clothes / do dishes / tidy up after your kids then you need to consider that she won’t be providing valuable childcare services during the prep time. And that is what you’re paying the big bucks for. So if it takes 2-3 hours to prep and do household chores everyday then you need to consider whether it might be more cost effective to just buy additional services in.
This assumes you actually have a proper nanny and not a glorified childminder / au pair / baby sitter who are much cheaper and would expect to do household chairs at the expense of childcare quality.

@gagahagahah

Nanny duties :

Cook meal, sometimes larger for everyone

Tidy toys away at the end of the day

Change nappies

Look after child

Give snacks fo child and feed lunch

Doesn't do :

Washing ( neither mine nor child's )

Dishwasher

Slave labour

I shared the duties.. I think it's OK. Nanny seems happy with it.

@Ozanj

That makes no sense.
Every nanny, jobsworth or not, does laundry, cooking, tidying for their charges.
The time difference between putting on a half load of kids washing, vs a full load of half kids, half parents, is probably an extra 3 mins.

The time difference between making enough fish pie for just kids vs kids and parents is at most 15 mins.

So by asking the nanny to pick up the minimal extra work is going to 'distract' away for 20 mins a day on top of her already distracted time.

Assuming the average housekeeper charges £15/hour and will do a minimum of 2 or 3 hours per shift, you cannot honestly be suggesting it is more cost effective to pay £30-45 A DAY to save a nanny having to prep a few more ingredients when making a meal?

Children’s laundry, yes.
Cooking more portions, yes, either to be eaten by the adults or to be frozen for quick children’s meals.
Dishwasher, I would expect her to load it with what she used. Unloading ad hoc but not specifically her task.

The time difference between putting on a half load of kids washing, vs a full load of half kids, half parents, is probably an extra 3 mins
True but it means you expect the nanny to handle the adult’s dirty laundry which she might find uncomfortable. Definitely worth checking she is fine with it IMO.

My nanny just had to look after the children

Nothing else. She would tidy up after. But that was it

I was very happy with this though. Mine wasn’t live in. If that helps

[quote GappyValley]@Ozanj

That makes no sense.
Every nanny, jobsworth or not, does laundry, cooking, tidying for their charges.
The time difference between putting on a half load of kids washing, vs a full load of half kids, half parents, is probably an extra 3 mins.

The time difference between making enough fish pie for just kids vs kids and parents is at most 15 mins.

So by asking the nanny to pick up the minimal extra work is going to 'distract' away for 20 mins a day on top of her already distracted time.

Assuming the average housekeeper charges £15/hour and will do a minimum of 2 or 3 hours per shift, you cannot honestly be suggesting it is more cost effective to pay £30-45 A DAY to save a nanny having to prep a few more ingredients when making a meal?[/quote]
In many places cleaners are 8-9/hr and laundary services for children are £5 a bag. And of course it doesn’t take only 20mins to prep and make a meal for 4 / do laundary / wash dishes . If that were true then the parents would be able to do it everyday.

@Ozanj

I hope people aren't paying £8/hr for cleaners because that would be under the minimum wage and therefore illegal.

And of course it doesn't take 20 mins to do that.
But the differential between just doing it for children vs doing it for children PLUS adults is going to be 20 minutes, tops

Children aren't going to suffer from lack of childcare in those 20 mins

Baffled by the notion of different food for kids and adults. Doesnt anyone eat with their children and just eat the same? What's wrong with fish & chips/sausage & mash/pasta/casseroles? I wouldnt call this "children's food". We all eat these regularly in our home and as long as it's a balanced meal with veg etc its fine for everyone.

Most nannies I know, myself included, don't mind mucking in with general stuff like emptying the bin or dishwasher if it's full and they need to use it. Likewise if the washer is full of the parents washing, I don't mind hanging it out, so I can do the kids stuff.
What isn't OK is these jobs always being left for the nanny - I'm talking about coming in on a Monday morning to a full dishwasher and all the dirty Sunday roast pots and pans stacked next to it, or parents continuously ignoring a full bin.

@GappyValley

For those saying cooking for adults should mean a pay rise, The going rate for nannies vs nanny housekeepers is pretty much the same.

The main difference between pay expectations seems to be how many children they are expected to look after

So a 'pure' nanny will look after up to 3 children for the same rate.
A nanny housekeeper will tend to look after 2

So if you have 1 or 2 children and expect a few meals cooked for you, the market rate for pay is the same as for 1 or 2 children and no other duties.

Also LOL-ing at the idea that someone who has chosen a career in nannying would get 'significantly stressed' at having to make a larger portion of food which an adult might eat some of. Some of these posters have absolutely no clue

You are wrong

@AlmostSummer21

Really? What do you think is the going rate for a nanny vs nanny housekeeper where you are?

Where I am, it is £12-14 net for both types

Nannies with Norland training, nannies with twin experience, nannies looking after 3+ children, and nannies willing to do more than 50 hours per week are more, but I can't see many outside of these brackets, unless they are inexperienced, don't have good English or can't work a full week

Incidentally, more than half the ads I skimmed through also mentioned looking after dogs as part of the duties..! That looks like it is going to be the norm now for London nannies

Ours does enough for everyone when it's something like a casserole and doesn't if they're having something like fish fingers. I also batch-cook at the weekend if I know she's going to have a very busy day and struggle to cook. Just discussed this thread with her - she found it baffling!

[quote GappyValley]@Ozanj

That makes no sense.
Every nanny, jobsworth or not, does laundry, cooking, tidying for their charges.
The time difference between putting on a half load of kids washing, vs a full load of half kids, half parents, is probably an extra 3 mins.

The time difference between making enough fish pie for just kids vs kids and parents is at most 15 mins.

So by asking the nanny to pick up the minimal extra work is going to 'distract' away for 20 mins a day on top of her already distracted time.

Assuming the average housekeeper charges £15/hour and will do a minimum of 2 or 3 hours per shift, you cannot honestly be suggesting it is more cost effective to pay £30-45 A DAY to save a nanny having to prep a few more ingredients when making a meal?[/quote]
That might be true, but most nannies don't want to do their bosses dirty laundry or cook for them.

I personally only do child-related tasks.

This big take away for me in this thread is that people with nannies eat an awful lot of mince.

I think the issue here is you’re moving away from nanny to being your personal house keeper and assistant. She might be ok with this, she might not be and feel she can’t refuse. The fact you’re asking on here indicates you know she’s not going to be well pleased.

Personally it’s a no from me, I don’t think she should be cooking your dinner and doing your house work.

This big take away for me in this thread is that people with nannies eat an awful lot of mince.

😂

We had a wonderful nanny back in the day when we bothed work long and silly hours. She wasn't live in but was very flexible with her hours but she was very traditional about her role. She did everything for the boys and gave them their tea but no way would she have cooked for us or done any cleaning apart from clearing up after them. We had a cleaner for that. Those were the days. In our area a nanny who also did housework would be classed as mother's help - and paid less.

YABU. She is a nanny not a cook

I would definitely find cooking a meal to be eaten by adults to be more responsibility than cooking one for a three year old as they’re judging your cooking skills on a different level.

Similarly even if adult laundry is little more effort than children’s laundry, it’s more responsibility- children’s clothes can generally be chucked in a wash together, but with adult clothes there’s more chance of inadvertently ruining an expensive silk shirt or something.

Just from chatting to nannies I know, it often seems to be the people who expect more ‘extras’ who are then most fussy and demanding about it. If you’re super chilled out about your nanny rustling up a bog standard fish pie for a family meal, they’re probably not going to mind too much doing it on occasion as part of usual give-and-take. But if you start getting picky about producing chef-level catering it’s a different matter.

Our nanny nearly always emptied the dishwasher in the morning, but I can hand-on-heart say that was the only ‘extra’ thing we ever expected of her.

Yabu

@Wiredforsound

This big take away for me in this thread is that people with nannies eat an awful lot of mince.

That's not entirely untrue! . Although we also ate a lot of chicken. And she liked to bake so there was a lot of lemon drizzle cake and chocolate muffins too!

Most nannies don’t want to go through their bosses dirty pants, and the risk of ruining expensive clothing is much higher when doing adult laundry.

It is more stressful cooking for adults rather than children.

Loading/unloading the dishwasher as part of using the kitchen is fine, but if the nanny arrives at work to find they can’t make lunch until they unload the dishwasher, clear away all of the parents dinner plates from last night and sort all the breakfast things - that isn’t ok.

I was a sole charge nanny for 20yrs

I don’t have a problem in making a huge lasagne /shep pie/casserole few times a week

But wouldn’t be happy every day , as some nights might be a snacky tea or out at friends for play and tea so wouldn’t want to have to cook

Dishwasher. Nice if sometimes arrive to work and empty

Don’t mind unpacking it

Hate arriving to work and full dirty dw

We do ask her to do this occasionally but it's in her contract. As is kids laundry and cleaning their rooms and play room. Depends what your nanny is happy with as long as you're upfront, she can only say no!