What could your nanny do better/differently?

[NannyTreeChelsea]

I was chatting with a past employer of one of our registered nannies today to check her reference and he said something that I haven?t heard before (and I have checked LOTS of references with parents!)

?The kids loved her and all in all she was a great nanny, but we would have liked her to have stayed home more. She was out and about doing activities with the kids almost every day?.

Out of interest, is there anything that you think your nanny could do better or differently?

Cook fewer sweet things like cakes, bisuits and fudge, and more savoury things with DD. DD has enough of a sweet tooth as it is, and the leftovers aren't doing anything for my waistline! But on balance, its lovely that DD and our nanny are cooking together as DD loves to cook.

Considering that is all I could think of, I have reinforced my opinion that our nanny is really great!

I really can't think of anything at the moment. There have been a couple of things on the past eg leaving lights on when she leaves the house, or not giving the baby enough finger foods, but I've just mentioned them and she's stopped doing it.
I don't think it's very fair of your previous employer not to bring things up with you and then mention them in a reference. Like any employee you deserve to have feedback and an opportunity to improve your performance.

HappyAsEyeAm ...mmmm your nannies homemade treats sound delicious!

Karoleann i completely agree that an employer should bring things up at the time so that the nanny has a chance to rectify any issues!

I was checking another reference recently and the mum said "she seemed to eat rather a lot of our food", but when i questioned whether she had discussed this with the nanny she said she hadn't because it would have been 'awkward'!

If you thought you nanny could do something differently or better, would you feel awkward discussing it?

My last one was pretty good but we did have to have a few chats about planning and organising during school holidays. She didn't mind though, and she got better at it over the two years.

I like the fact that our nanny takes the dc out and about! They need to be allowed to run wild in a regular basis.
Also, think I must have a pretty good one ( although I knew that already) as I can't really think of much.

I can't think of anything. Not put another episode of a tempting TV series on when I need to go to bed?

I think the no improvements required is because we are very proactive re communication and solving problems as/before they arise.

DH and I also did an evaluation between nannies and even though I don't have a bad word to say about our previous nanny there were things we wished we had done/set out differently and I am sure on reflection that will happen this time as well but those aren't big issues and I wouldn't mention them in a reference.

I think that's always the way - it usually comes down to expectations not being made clear on one side or the other, so a weekly meeting is a really important part of getting it all right.

Nothing, our nanny is awesome.