To be shocked that my nanny cant cope with looking after my children full time in the holidays ?

[demandingboss]

Thats it really. We were away for the first 2 weeks.She has had them for 3 weeks and only has this week to go then she has a week off which is costing me a fortune to cover and then she has 3 days one week and 2 days the next and they are back to school.

Told me this am that she cant cope with having them 11 hors a day in the hols its just too exhausting and she spent all weekend in bed feeling poorly with the stress of it all.

She gets paid full time wages all year rund and has lots of perks ( and I maen lots ).

She seemed to be suggesting that they could go to holiday club so she could get on with some studying during the day!!!

I was so gobsmacked I just left and acme to work!

To be honest Im not expecting to get any replies to this as you will I am sure be too shocked to type!

Yes but she is a live in with a car provided. Her 500 pw is only pocket money.

But in comparision with what most childcare providers are paid ie minimum wage this incompetent person is doing rather well in her chosen field.
It's hardly rocket science and you're not comparing like with like when most graduates start on less money having spent 5 years longer in education.

£37000 is a good wage but sorry, not a kings ransom. I work p/t but if i worked F/t I would earn just under this figure. Dp earns way over this figure and does not do in excess of about 43/44 hours per week. I get the feeling that people who employ nannies can have very out dated ideas of what constitutes a fair exchange of work for reward. Just my opinion.

Why are you adding £1000 to the take home?

I pay my (social services funded) helpers £8 an hour and they only ever provide an extra pair of hands (I'm always there and usually deal with ds1 whilst they deal with ds2 & ds3, so I take on the hard bit).

£300 a week might be the going rate but it's not a huge wage for 11 hour days - tbh I wouldn't do it - and whilst living in is a choice- frees up some money etc and has some advantages- it's hardly anyone's first choice. It's not like having free rent in your own place.

Of course if someone takes it on then that's their choice and they should provide a reasonable service, but I don't think you can expect a pound of flesh for £300 a week really.

Well it;'s not really. I mean I pay that much (slightly more) into my own home. I wouldn't expect someone living here to have the same value in something that isn't theirs A room in a home around here is a few hundred a month. OK it might be in a nicer house than they could afford, but it;s not their own home. Personally I'd never live in an employer's home - I don't think it equates to market rates.

Bravo Jimjams!!!!!

Sorry to probably sound a little harsh....having 2 of my own and granted a very hard time with them but...just wondering why you had kids if you wanted them looked after full time?????

db probably wanted to have children and have a career, if that's OK with you, OM?

Full time ....thats the point cm??? I'm not talking full time as in work hours but 24hrs in the day full time???? Til bedtime???? What dya get...the joys of watching them sleep???

Don't want to pry chipmonkey....But do you work???

OlaMamas what are you talking about? db has stated that she leaves the house at 7am and is back at 6pm. As her children are 7 and 9 that means she has several hours each day to play with them, and the weekends too. Not dissimilar to lots of other people who work full time.

I am afraid that nannying is not a very well paid profession. That's because it doesn't require a lot of qualifications and currently supply exceeds demand, so market forces means that wages are depressed.

Several hours.... not being funny but several hours....to play when you leave at 7....so r getting ready from 6....in at 6pm and r getting them ready for bed!!!! Moaning about the nanny....sorry again to sound possibly a little drunk and over opinianated but....if you can afford a nanny you need to moan about you can afford to work less hours and spend a little extra time with the children YOU decided to breed!!!

Shit I really am sounding like an arse...aren't I.... Don't answer that! Just coz I'm having an incredibly hard time WITH the children whilst others complain about THEIR child care!!!!! Had a really gud job with great pay....had 2 parents that didnt give up their jobs for their kids!!!! Wouldn't want to miss out....but some comments make me cross!!!!! I aint that bad really!!!!!!

I work 4 days pw but I am in a profession where that is possible. A lot of women don't have that option or if they do take that option their career prospects plummet. And I have never seen any evidence that children suffer unduly by not being with their parents 24/7, mine certainly made more arty type stuff in the nursery and baked more cakes than they ever would have done at home with me! So long as the children are fed, changed, looked after and played with, I don't think it makes an enormous difference wheter that is done by a nanny or childcare worker.

I think if you started getting the average nine year old ready for bed at 6 pm, he would indicate to you where you could shove it. YOu do sound horribly jealous, olamamas

gosh you all had fun whilst I was out !

Im just off to work now but we are having a meeting with nanny at 6.45pm tonight.

FWIW its not a room in my house she lives in but a sep self contained annexe with her own shower room and kitchen, together with her own garden area with table and chairs. Its not massive but would rent out for about £400 a month if we chose.

\thanks for all your advice guys. It wasnt of course about the rights and wrongs of me and DH working but about whether I was expecting too much of my nanny.The general opinion I think being a big fat NO !

I will update lster.

DB

"So long as the children are fed, changed, looked after and played with, I don't think it makes an enormous difference wheter that is done by a nanny or childcare worker."

Actually recently there has been a fair amount of research into the possible long term affects of full-time group childcare on children under 3. This article sets out some of the issues: here

Not that this is relevant to the OP, whose demands on her nanny are entirely reasonable I'd say. Demandingboss - hope your conversation with your nanny was constructive!

Oh I'm sure it's a nice pad. But if you could rent it out at £400 to someone who didn't work for you you can't attach the same monetary value to someone living there who would work for you. Sure it's an extra perk of the job, but a 'perk' that many would never choose.

I don't think it really matters until people start saying 'ooh look she should be really happy because she's getting the equivalent of 1000 pounds a month in housing/car etc'. No she's not - it's not the equivalent to paying money into your own stuff. A friend of mine had a free car as part of a nanny job but the terms and conditions that came with it made it hardly worthwhile and more of a bind than a perk. I suspect she would have preferred 40p a mile towards travel expenses. She's getting some perks with the job but they are ?? tarnished perks??? I don't quite mean that I just there are many people who wouldn't choose live-in because of the disadvantages of living with your employer. It's really not the same as free housing that is your own (something I did have in a job in Japan- a great perk).

hmmm I think you need to think about alternate arrangements

I do think that supervising children at home for 6 weeks is something that will drive normal children crazy - they need more freedom IMO

My 5 year old goes to a council-run 'holiday club' for a couple of days a week during the hols - it is well rough but she absolutely loves it. I think your children need some variety instead of being expected to be happy in a very restricted environment without a parent to bounce off.

Going back to the £8.88 per hour calculation I think it is underestimating how much she earns.

Well actually that has forgotten that the nanny takes her 5 weeks annual holidays in school holidays so she only does 6 weeks of 11 hours a day (and I'm not even sure it's a full 6 weeks as she seems to be having a 3 and 2 day week these holidays)

Plus during school term time she may be on duty 10-11 hours per day but presumably is only actually looking after children max of 4 hours per day and I don't think the housework she does takes 4 hours either - probably 2-3 max????? so at the most she works 7 hours per day and even then at least 1-2 hours of the childcare bit won't be hands on will be them chilling out, watching TV etc.

Yes the holidays are hard but it's a small part of the job and the nanny doesn't do anymore than 2 weeks full care on the trot in the hols.