Outings and expenses, not sure what is expected.

[timeforteaagain]

We have moved area/home and have employed a new nanny for our two toddlers. The previous home was in a town with at least a tots group or activity for every day within a reasonable walk (buggy required) so the previous nanny always walked everywhere. That said she had very little inspiration for doing anything fun with the children so the eldest got a little bored and disruptive.

Our new area in also in town with a daily group/activity to go to with a walk although rather slowly unless the buggy is used! The new nanny has issues with no car at present so has use of our family car during the day. So far the children seem to go out in the car every day that the nanny has been. They don't use the local area much and I appreciate that it is the hols so groups are disrupted by this. That said we have a couple of parks round the corner. The nanny seems to take the children away out of town possibly to an area familiar to her. She has also started to request money to pay for entrance fees to zoos, theme parks etc but at £25 for her entrance plus pos the same for the eldest (yougest would be free) this is getting more than I can afford. Essentially my money covers the nanny wages and essentials with only about £100 left for me. I am quite worried about the expected expenses in addition to the petrol costs of using our car every day. Obviously our last nanny only spent on tots groups etc so was fairly cheap!!! Our new nanny is great and has lots of energy/initiative. She has initiated playdates with friends children etc which is good for our children in a new area. Am I fight to be concerned with 1) use of areas away from our home, 2) heavy use of the family car and 3) expenses seem costly.

I am new and inexperienced at employing a nanny so some helpful insight would be appreciated!

I agree with most of the others.

I have a 15 month old charge. We mainly do free activities in the holidays, park, beach, swimming (nanny membership at local gym and she is a real water baby, already says 'splash splash' if I ask her what she wants to do!) friends for coffee/lunch and play, which can seem expensive when your nanny is hosting but we have a group of 7 of us so it is once every 7 weeks and inbetween there is a day a week when the nanny and children don't need feeding!

We have annual membership to three zoos locally, total cost of £90 per year but we go loads, (might not have all three memberships when we have to pay for charge too!) but we don't generally go in the summer holidays as they get far too busy. Although we went this week and had a wonderful day and charge still keeps talking about the zoo.

I don't have a kitty budget, as such, I pay for things and my boss pays me back at the end of the month, but apart from buying food, I always run things by my boss before spending her money! Even on craft stuff.

I will buy myself a coffee in a coffe shop from the kitty if we are there because of my charge, i.e., shopping for holiday bits yesterday, she needed feeding so I had coffee while I was feeding her, they don't tend to let you sit in a cafe if you don't buy anything! And if we went to the park with friends and we all had a drink/ice cream, I would pay from the kitty. However, if I was in town for my own reasons, picking up parcel from post office, etc and we stopped for a coffee, then I would pay for it myself.

I have sole use of a work car, on and off duty, my employer pays for the petrol.
If I go away for the weekend, I will replace my use, if I pop into town at the weekend, I don't. We have some friends with one child and so we will car share for longer journeys but obviously this isn't always possible.

My bosses are amazing, very kind, appreciative and generous, I would never take the piss! If they said, we'd rather you didn't go here or there and stayed closer to home, then I would understand, I would see if they would compromise to one activity further afield a week if charge and I enjoyed the class/liked the other children/carers, but ultimately, they are the boss and what they say goes.

hoping they don't see this and lay down the law!

I'd work out exactly what the costs are of things you would like her to do ie 2 x local playgroup
1 x park
1 x swim
1 x farm trip

• petrol costs and see what it works out as. Explain what you are doing and leave approx that amount in the kitty each week (plus a bit extra for emergencies in seperate envolope). I go with buying an annual pass for somewhere (often you can do them by monthly direct debit). Just explain now the summer is over you want her to do local things and that this is the budget. Also ask her to write down what she needs for herself and your daughter each week for picnics. We've always had a kitty system and its worked well.

My nanny tells me what she's thinking of doing with the kids each day, so I can say if I think it's a bit expensive.

You need to talk to your nanny as we have no way of knowing things. Just say if you want her to stick to local things and explain that you have not got much money and she will be fine.

Going back to your first post timeforteaagain.

Your first nanny was happy with walking everywhere and using the buggy.

I'm a childminder and don't have use of a car. I manage to walk everywhere with children in the buggy and maybe one walking alongside.

I get out everyday to groups, parks (around the corner) and make good use of my house and garden.

Now your new nanny requires use of a car and wants to go further afield. Although you then say there are a couple of parks around the corner from you. Maybe you have given her the message that your previous nanny didn't get out much so your new nanny is trying to compensate by doing too much and going out too far and spending too much!

May I hijack the thread and ask a quick question?

Mileage is something we included in our contract with our nanny. I put together a mileage claims form and asked her to fill it in and give it to me whenever she wanted to make a claim.

Have reminded her, as she has been working with us for almost 5 months. But she hasn't submitted one.

They don't often travel far, only one trip which might have been about 15 miles in either direction, otherwise normally no more than 1-2 miles if they go out in the car.

Should I be doing more?

Zhx3 - To avoid you having a big cost later on, ask for the mileage log to be given to you now, and from then on at the end of each month. If your nanny has not completed the form, that is their issue not your's. If they don't want to write down details of each journey to claim the mileage then you can't force them to make a claim. However if they submit a big claim at the end of the year, that is not going to go down well with you, so having the details monthly would be helpful.