Childminding in dirty house

[Notmyjob007]

Recently started a job as a nanny for two children, one toddler and one school age. I've noticed that each week the home especially the kitchen is getting dirtier. This morning I had to clean down counters, sweep floors and steam clean the floors as they were scruffy. When I started I was told they had mice but were on top of it and house seemed cleaned enough. I don't know if they realise the house is not clean or they are just chancing their arm and know I will clean up.

OP - decide how you feel about doing some cleaning and then go from there. Would you be OK doing some cleaning if it were included in your contract and you were paid extra for it, or is it a hard no regardless of potential extra pay?

Either way, a conversation with the parents is needed along the lines of:

“unfortunately the kitchen / home is not in a clean enough condition for me to be comfortable caring for the children in. Given X is a toddler, the chance of them putting rubbish etc into their mouth is high.

Ive had to spend a considerable amount of time each day cleaning, which I am not paid for and takes time away from me caring for the children. Going forward, for me to continue providing care for your children:
A) change my job description and rate of pay to reflect cleaning duties
B) employ a cleaner and make sure there are set clean spaces in the house available in the house each day for me and the children to use”

Beyond this I guess you need to look at whether you can afford to leave the role if it’s causing you undue stress?

Oh dear, I dread to think what our nanny thought of our kitchen. We just have the cleaner in every week sorting out and each day we clean the surfaces, but back then we left at 6.30 am every day and would have left it so that the previous nights dinner was cleared up and dishwasher run, but our coffee cups would be on the side. She was with us for 4 years but maybe she spent a lot of time telling her friends about it!

As you’re considering leaving there’s no harm in addressing this with them now.
you could say -“ I need to discuss the cleaning with you. I’m doing a lot because it needs doing before I can work comfortably with the children. Would you agree to employ a cleaner because I think it would be very helpful and allow me to focus on the children which is all I want to do. “

”our house is perfectly clean!”

”no I find I’m having to clean as soon as I arrive and I can’t do that long term”

The more you do for them, the less you do for their child…

Some people live in dirty houses and have slovenly ways. In my experience they won't change as they don't care.

Look for another job OP before it does your head in. I bet they think they've struck gold with you doing all that cleaning. If they've noticed, that is.

She’s a nanny. Cleaning after the children is part of her job, like cleaning their dinner things after making their meals and putting their toys away. Steam cleaning the floors is taking the piss.
Op I know it’s awkward, but if it’s got to the point where you’re looking to leave, could you not have a frank discussion with them? Even in a text message if it’s a bit less embarrassing. I can’t see them not doing anything if you say something. If they’ve lost one nanny due to their house being minging, they must know there’s a good chance of them losing the next one so it needs to be sorted. Honestly if I had a nanny quit because the children’s house was so dirty, I’d be worried about her reporting me to ss

The ops clearly stated that there’s smells and dirt that hasn’t been cleaned since she started. Different to having a regular cleaner in and the house just getting messy in between

If you really like the children OP I’d start by speaking to the parents? Especially as you’re already looking for another job, you have nothing to lose.
Also stop doing the cleaning for them! Obviously clean the things children use whilst in your care as presumably agreed in your contract but honestly they are likely chancing it and enjoying having a cleaner they’re not paying for. You say it’s dangerous the floors are dirty but providing it’s not glass/faeces, then no one will get hurt.

Some people are just dirty.

They won't change. They choose to live like this.

Find a new job.

I don’t think they asked her to

If you like the kids and the job is otherwise good then I'd tell them outright that you can't stay unless they get a cleaner in - a bare minimum of 2 hours a week so the floors aren't sticky, but ideally 2 hours twice a week. They might be offended but you were going to quit anyway

They're not going to change and do it themselves.

Some people are happy to live/don’t see the dirt. It’s not to your standards but they might be quite happy and not notice.

If they work and don’t hire a cleaner that’s their call. Given this is not a long term job I wouldn’t be making the effort to clean but I appreciate it’s not a nice environment for you. I hate seeing visibly dirty houses it grosses me out so you have my sympathy having to spend all day there!

I don’t understand how it’s so filthy every day if you’re saying you clean in the morning and again before you leave at night?

You certainly shouldn't have to be cleaning the kitchen each day just to start afresh and cook safely for the kids. It's difficult to know how to approach it subtly. Do you have structured tasks you need to do with the kids? If so refer back to a list of those in writing and explain there is no time before the start of the day to be cleaning.
If they are untidy and messy I guess it's their choice to an extent. You shouldn't have to do extra work there though. If it's a deal-breaker it's best to be upfront as it's fair to give them a chance to replace you. Unlikely the new person will be happy in these conditions either.

I've got to ask, what does "steam cleaning" a floor mean? It's not a term I've ever come across. Is it a special machine?

You need to leave at once. This is not normal and maybe you leaving will make them wake up. I would imagine this has happened with other nanny's too. You deserve to work in a clean environment

You can buy a plug in steam mop or use a hard floor setting on a carpet cleaner

Either you bring it up with them that that is not a part of your job; you negotiate a pay raise to do those chores, or you find a new job.

I’ve nannied and I’ve never had to deal with this.

A couple
of Coffee cups to the side is a big different from a dirty kitchen, now is it?

See, you are setting a precedent that you will clean up after them. DON’T. Stop right now. They are either taking the piss or they are just filthy; decide if you want to work for filthy people.

It sounds awful, totally grim.
To be fair to the parents though they haven't asked the op to clean, they may not even have noticed that she has done any cleaning.
Some people really are just blind to mess and squalor.

@thebestinterest yes it's just that the way the OP talks about steam cleaning the floor makes me think she would also take a dim view of the state of our floor! I sort of register its appearance occasionally as rather grubby before the cleaner comes 🙈. Oh well doesn't matter any more I suppose!

I'm going to talk to them on Thursday when I finish my shift. Depending on what they say at least I will have a few days space to decide what I'm going to do.

Read what the op is actually cleaning. She’s obviously not doing upstairs and says it stinks of smelly bedding and dirty carpets, which is fucking rank tbh. She says every morning she has to clean up their breakfast things which they’ve basically left for her, and clean on the crumbs and spills off their sides. She also has to try and sweep the grubby floors as they don’t have a hoover. And the bins smell unbearable even when they’re not full. It’s sounds like the vast majority of the house is stinking, her cleaning their breakfast things and sweeping the floors in the morning isn’t putting a dent in by the sounds of things. I think resorting having to steam clean their floors out of desperation because she’s so concerned for the children’s welfare is the straw that broke the camels back. It sounds like a massively unpleasant environment for anyone

Their beddings stinking, their carpets are stinking, their bins are stinking, the floors and filthy and sticky and they don’t own a hoover. There’s crumbs everywhere, dirt and stains up the kitchen cupboards. I don’t think the op washing up and wiping sides and trying to do the floors with the sweeper is sorting the issue. Weird how you’ve worded it to make it sound like the ops being unreasonable or ineffective at her job, when this isn’t even her job