Am I a planning freak????

[blackberrymumble]

I have a really lovely nanny who has been with us for 4 months looking after my 8 month old son. She works 3 days a week, whilst I work from home (sometimes I'm there, sometimes not). Over the last 2 months I have tried hard to encourage her to plan activities appropriate to his age, and she has done this in relation to external activities but I had to do quite a bit of prompting. However, I feel she should be planning more 'at home' activities to make sure he is not just sitting on his playmat in the kitchen. My approach to things is always quite planned, so I need to know if my expectations are unrealistic. Example: today I asked what are her plans for this afternoon, bearing in mind nap over at approx. 2pm and tea at 5pm - so 3 hr window. She said 'a walk'. Noramlly she is out for a max of 45mins for a walk. I really want to hear that she is thinking about doing for the other 2hrs or so. The reason I want to know is that I think he is getting bored and so grumbles which I find worrying (most NB) but also very distracting from my work. Any suggestions very welcome. Thanks

Do you have a daily diary that she can write in as the day goes along, so you can see if he has done 100 different things, or 1? I do them for my mindees. I don't have time to write every activity in, but it shows a range of activities over the day, as well as illness, bowel movements, food, sleeps, etc. Perhaps this would put your mind at rest, so she doesn't have to write her plans in advance (because they might change due to weather, nap length, illnes, etc).

What sort of activities would you want him doing? He's probably at the stage where he is crawling around exploring the world around him.
He may like building blocks/towers to knock down. May like things to make noise with.

He may like being read books.

Babies don't do a lot. In a few months he will be pulling contents out of cupboards, starting to walk.

For now going on a walk to see the world around them sounds fine - bit chilly today.

Maybe think about what you do with him on days nanny isn't there, then suggest to your nanny that they try doing some of those things as he likes it.

Thanks HSMM. I've provided daily diary sheets and she has asked for a week to view dairy which I have ordered, but so far all she writes in is the music and gym groups he goes to. She did say she didn't like working a nursery because there was so much paperwork so I don't want to turn her off the job. Nannynick - thanks also, he is not quite crawling yet and yes I've suggested things that I do when I am with him, I've also shown her the book I use for ideas. You are right be loves building blocks and books and she does use these. I think you've helped to put my mind at rest a bit....I was just a bit concerned that he doesn't spend too long sat in one place. I've been very careful not to give her too much cooking etc. to do to make sure she can get this done while he is sleeping.

I don't think he'd let her leave him sitting in one pleace being ignored . If she doesn't like lots of paperwork (I don't blame her), then she probably won't write much in a daily diary.