For those who have employed a nanny/housekeeper or worked as one

[nanny20011]

Hi there im a nanny looking for work i have always strayed away from jobs that want a nanny/housekeeper as i have felt that either the housework or childcare duties will not be performed to the best if you say have young children to look after aswell. well at present as ive have been out of work for a few months now so have started to look at nanny/housekeeper roles and broadening my horizion when it comes to job hunting. So just a quick question to those who have employed a nanny/housekeeper with young children at home or those who have been one. Do you find that you dont actually have any type of break as when the children are resting its your time to clean? or do you feel you have to stick the children in a room as you then have to clean. Or those who have employed one have you felt they have focused on one side the cleaning or the childcare so the other side isnt done aswell.
Thanks alot if anyone can answer

I would guess these roles are usually for school aged children. So the housekeeper bit is while they are nursery/school

Thats what i assumed but have seen lots of job over the past week one just posted yesterday with a baby under 1 so just wondering if it could actually work.

I only ever had a nanny who wouldn't even unload the dishwasher but I have had friends who had nanny-housekeepers and it seems to me that you would need to be very clear what housekeeping was expected and when it was meant to be done. If I had a one year old who took three hour naps, then I might like a nanny-housekeeper to do soemthing around the house for two hours of those naps. Or, if I had schoolage kids, then the housework would be done while at school. Otherwise, not really fair to expect someone to do housework and look after kids simultaneously (though as a Mum of two at home on maternity leave, that's what I do all day!)

Hi, I don't know if you've seen my post below - but I'm considering a nanny housekeeper when we move. Basically I'm a (mostly) a SAHM, my husband works horrible hours so I've always had someone to help out a couple of days a week to give me a bit of me time and also so I have some time with DC2 whilst they look after DC3.
I'm really unsure how much housework a nanny/housekeeper will do, but my plan was that I'd take the children out of the house when the nanny cleaned a couple of days a week.
So yes I agree, you can't do a proper big clean and look after the children at the same time. Some of the nanny/housekeeper jobs I've seen advertised state that they also have a separate cleaner, so I guess the nanny is just doing the emptying dishwasher, cleaning up kitchen, running errands, doing shopping that sort of thing.

I am a nanny housekeeper - well that's what my job title is - however I don't do alot of cleaning. I have 1 pre-school DC (who was young when I started) and it is mainly sole charge of DC.

I do hoover communal rooms daily, wipe down sides, chamge beds etc as a nanny would do but on the whole my housekeeping is dealing with home issues ie running errands (ie post office) sorting repairmen appointments etc as my boss is away alot yet the house still needs to be kept in order etc.

The thing is, if a Nanny is not willing to do the sort of chores that Oneofthechildlessones describes, then basically, the Nanny will get all the lovely one on one time with the kids, while the mum has to tear about the house doing all the chores and ignoring the kids on her non-WOHM time.

I think Nannys should be there to make life easier and so I would never hire one that refused to do any additional chores.

With a one year old. There is probably 3 hours a day nap time. Its not unreasonable for a Nanny to help with the house for 2 hours a day .... thats 10 hours in a 5 day week. Plenty to keep ontop of things.

I'm looking at the option of a nanny/housekeeper if I get a position I have gone for. I need someone to do early starts and late finishes, but DS1 is at school and DS2 is at nursery 3 mornings a week now, soon to be 2 longer days and 1 morning so there will be a bit of free time with no children around.

I wouldn't expect any heavy duty cleaning - will probably also get a cleaner to come in once a week. But want someone who is willing to do more than just 'nursery' duties. Hoovering, and swooshing a feather duster around will certainly be included!!!

Im a nanny. I would do any addition things as a nanny/housekeeper except cook for the whole family, i would not feel confident enough to cook for the parents- unless they were totally rubbish cooks themselves. I also wouldnt be keen on doing parents ironing as i'd be worried it wasnt good enough and take ages. anything else i would do, and am happy to do anything to do with the children.

I had a nanny when my DD3 was a baby and the other 2 were in school.
She arrived at 9am and would care for the baby all morning - did loads of activities with her and took tons of pics with my camera, for me to see what they'd been up to each day!

At lunchtime, she would cook a simple lunch for all 3, then collect DD1&2 from school, feed them all, drop them back at school and put the baby down for a nap.

During DD3's nap, the nanny would tidy DD1&2's room and hoover it, iron all the kids' clothes and sometimes the lounge or kitchen (if they'd done messy activities, especially).Then she would pick the older 2 up after school, give them all a snack and take them to the park if the weather was nice.

I would get home at 6 and the kids would all be bathed and homework done. Often the kids' dinner would be ready or cooking and I just had to serve it.
Seriously, she was every mother's dream :)

My friend is a a full-time live-in nanny and as far as I am aware her job is looking after the children and the associated jobs i.e. feeding them and clearing away, their laundry and ironing, school runs, taking them to parties, play dates, park etc. I don't think she's expected to do the main laundry or hoovering, but probably does dishwasher etc.

My colleague is looking for a nanny housekeeper to help with drop offs and pick ups at nursery and do house stuff in between. She's struggling as she can't find someone willing to do the early start ...which is precisely the help you need when your office hours are 8.30 - 5.30 and you have min 45min commute

My friend has older kids and has a housekeeper who also does some babysitting.
It's a very different job description, though.

Her kids are 14 and 11 and the housekeeper arrives after lunch, cleans and irons etc, then gives the kids a snack when they arrive home from school and supervises homework.

My friend (single mum) arrives home around 7pm and the housekeeper leaves. I think she works 6 hours a day, with a full day on Wednesdays.

Home -I suspect I will find the same so have thought about a live-in. Although not ideal they usually expect to start earlier and finish later.

Karoleann Thats what we do. Although I'm a SAHM mum, when we found out that I was pregnant with triplets, we realized that we would need some extra help! We have no family nearby, and my older 2 girls were 2 and 3 at the time - and needed entertaining constantly ..
Even though our triplets are now 2.6, life is made so much easier by having an 'extra pair of hands'.
Our Nanny and I work in sync really - if housework needs doing, then one of us will go and drop DC's to nursery or take them with us to do food shopping whilst the other does housework that needs doing.
Its nice to have our Nanny just entertaining and playing with our older 2 DD's whilst I have some 1:1 with triplets, or vice versa.. something I couldn't do until the weekend as DH works irritating hours..

Hi, I have only just employed a nanny/housekeeper about 4 months ago, so it's all a bit new to me (and her) too.
Basically, I expect her to concentrate on looking after the children (2 schoolage, 2 pre-school) and to do what cleaning/tidying she finds possible. Tbh what she gets done exceeds my expectations, in that she seems to be able to achieve more than I do when I am at home (I work part-time). I hope she will stay with us for a long time and I would anticipate that her role will change to more housekeeperish duties when the 2 younger kids are at school.

I think it is all about negotiation and about talking honestly with each other. I pay her more hours than she works most weeks, but expect flexibility in return. So far we are getting on like a house on fire - long may it continue!

Good luck with your job hunt.

Hi - must admit I've never understood why there's such an issue over this. Mothers are expected to look after children and the house, food etc all at the same time so why can't someone who's paid to do so? The traditional nanny's refusal to do anything but look after the kids to my mind harks back to a time when the only families who employed nannies also employed teams of domestic staff.... Not really appropriate assistance for most of today's working mothers, many of whose pay only just covers the cost of their childcare. I once employed a nanny who said she planned to take the kids out on a picnic one day, only to turn to me on her arrival as I left the house for work and ask me where I'd put the picnic I'd made!
What I need when I go to work is someone who'll be like me when I'm at home for the day, ie cooking, cleaning, shopping, running errands, ferrying kids around, dispensing hugs, food and discipline, supervising homework and walking the dog! Why can't one person do all this when they're paid? Are we really saying a mother's job is too hard for anyone, apart from for a mother that is?!!

As long as the parents are on board with some of the daily necessities (tidying up after meals, preparing food, loading/emptying the dishwasher, throwing in a load of laundry) happening while the kids are awake - either helping me or otherwise occupied - I'm more than happy to do bigger housekeeping duties (cleaning the kitchen, hoovering, dusting) during nap times. The only time I've ever encountered trouble is when my employers wanted me to save ALL my tasks (even wiping down the high chair!) for nap time, and I just didn't have enough time to keep on top of everything.

I think it's the same reason that teachers don't clean the school. It's not really what they've trained to do. There are people that will do both they're called nanny/housekeepers or mother's helps. I chose a career in childcare because I want to care for children, I don't want to scrub someone elses toilet. A lot of your list Cocc would be covered by a nanny. Certainly shopping, running errands, cooking for the children, children's laundry etc is all included, it's only really heavy duty cleaning that falls outside a nanny's remit.

And how much were you paying for this

A nanny is not a cleaner/hk

So you may find Many don't want to do household chores

Given that the thread was from 10 years ago, how would knowing what they paid then be helpful?

I wondered why I had posted on a childcare thread when my DC are teenagers.....