Nannies - when out with children at a softplay or somewhere with cafe do you pay for you drink or take it out the kitty?

[DillyDallyDayDream]

Title says it all

I tend to use my money for it but know others who use the kitty money. Interested to see what you do

Iggly - when I say "I don't necessarily see why this money needs to be spent particularly in this financial climate" I am not taking the pi55 I am genuiniely putting a point across. For example, I work in a public sector with working hours of 0730-2030 and I don't get meal breaks provided. This is a major employer in the UK and they do not provide luches or tea/coffee, you bring your own in and grab it when you can. Likewise hubby works for a different major UK employer and they have stopped all tea/coffee provision sometime ago to cut costs in this financial climate. It is a real consideration these days.
I do employ a nanny who brings her meals in or does sometimes eat what she has cooked for the children. If she stays overnight she can eat from the house; breakfast, lunch and dinner, generally what the children are eating as it is all homecooked healthy meals etc. We do have a kitty which is there to cover childrens outings etc, so a set amount for the month. If she uses this on coffee there will be less for entrance fees so she needs to budget. We do have three young beans who need interaction with us or our nanny when out which she does extremely well, so no we don't get time for coffee. We do provide an annual pass (with parking) for free access to parks, farms but her choice not to use it, so I don't feel I should have to pay more for the kitty to go elsewhere with lunch etc. I personally think that being careful and considerate with money (yours or employers) is not a bad thing.

well 2plus1, really it depends on the contract doesn't it. If meals etc provided or not. Regardless of eco climate...

i would expect coffee to come out of the kitty.

nannynick, i'd hope that you'd pay for your own gym membership, but i'd pay the £5 for my child and buy your and dc's lunch / snacks. and i'd be very grateful that you're taking them swimming at your gym!

I personally think that being careful and considerate with money (yours or employers) is not a bad thing.

I agree, before spending money some thought needs to be put in to what it's being spent on.

Every employer is different, I've had (non-nanny) jobs in the past where the employer only provided vending machines (at a reasonable cost, so not overly profit making), an employer who provided free tea/coffee/hot chocolate, an employer (public sector) who didn't provide anything apart from use of a small kitchen with a kettle and fridge in it - each Team then did their own coffee/tea/biscuit/milk fund, so weekly subs to pay for the supplies.

One thing about all 3 of those employers was that as the employee I could leave the building and walk to somewhere that sold sandwiches. I got a lunch break.
As a nanny working in a small village, there is no where for sandwiches and I don't get a lunch break. I can work a 12 hour shift and have no break at all. Other times I may start later and thus be able to have lunch at home but then get evening meal (with the children) at work.

What works for one employer:employee relationship may not work for another. The parent:nanny relationship is employer:employee but it's not like other jobs where if the relationship breaks down you have other people to take over some of the work. So keeping nanny happy is what I suspect many employers do, providing meals and an activities budget may be helping to keep the employee happy, saving the childcare arrangement from breaking down.

Bonsoir I think that I am partly benefiting from the swimming trip as well. We could choose to go to the council pool but it's not as quiet. We like being the only people in the pool, or sometimes we are two out of 4 or worse 6 people (that was a very busy morning for the babypool). Thanks for replying though, I wondered if any parents would think that, though personally I'm happy with the situation we currently have whereby I get a weekly budget and can spend it without restrictions.

claudedebussy I agree, it's my gym membership not my bosses, I don't feel that it is reasonable for my boss to pay for my exercise classes and other things I do at the club. May be different if my boss was a member of the club and I was a nanny on her membership (which I think is the situation for Callaird). It's my choice to go to the health club swimming pool, rather than the council pool next door (which is not bad, but is more a leisure pool with flumes, squirting things etc.)

I work in the public sector too.

And I get meal breaks - my chargeable hours are 7 hours a day, my contractual hours are 8 (I actually work longer).

Your nanny does a different job to you, she is "working" non stop.
So yes I think it takes the piss not to provide food/drinks.

I will add my employer only provides lunch if we're on a full day trainin course off site. In the office, we get breaks and sort ourselves out.

So if my nanny takes the kids out for lunch, then I will pay for hers too. I will also pay for a coffee if she's drinking with the kids. I'm not talking about buying stuff willy nilly.

nannynick - if I were your employer, then I would feel a moral duty to contribute to your health club membership in that situation - I would much prefer my very young child to go swimming in a private club pool than a council pool and would be very happy that my nanny were able and willing to take him/her!

I haven't worked as a nanny for a while, but when I did generally I would take money out of the kitty if I was doing something with the kids. So if the kids had a drink then mine was paid for me. If I wanted to stop and get a drink on the way to the playground and they weren't getting one (perhaps I had packed one for them) then I would usually pay. I usually got lunch paid for me, but I didn't often go out for lunch unless we were doing it with friends. I usually packed a lunch for outings.

I guess with the health club, it would be down to whether the parent actually thought their kid benefitted from it or whether they would be just as happy paying for a regular public pool. I might say something like "would you mind giving me the money I would have spent at XYZ pool today to put towards my gym membership?"

Nanny jobs where I haven't had perks like meals I have expected (and got) a higher salary. Many families feel it is more cost effective to pay for the food than a higher salary.

I think if the nanny isn't taking advantage and going out spending money all the time and expecting her boss to pick up a daily starbucks tab then I think it is fair enough to expect to not to spend her own money on a trip that is for the kids.

I think the difference with an employer paying for a nanny's lunch and a non-nanny employee's lunch is that the purpose of the lunch is work for a nanny. When DH has a working lunch his employer pays for the food. When a nanny takes a charge to lunch she is actively working and enriching the child's environment. It is a big benefit for families to have their child eat out from time to time.

'Don't understand those of you who pay for stuff yourself then reimbursed from parents - why do it this why?'

because it's what works best for us

'you may forget to write down something'

Always possible, I'm pretty organised so it's only ever going to be the odd thing, not really a problem.

'Two - I personally can't afford to pay for kitty costs out of my salary once bills etc have been paid (things like sains petrol hair cuts music lesson etc)'

Luckily I can. It's only really a matter of £200 or so, refunded at the end of the month and then pays for the next month etc.

'Is it not easier to have a kitty purse and just use that'

For me, no. I find with a kitty purse that I forget to take it or they forget to put money in it. If I'm doing some shopping for them I'll often do mine as well, then rather than paying with two different purses and getting two lots of change and getting all mixed up, I just pay for it all and then use the receipt to charge their stuff to them.

'And what could happen in one extreme case - years ago a nanny I know used her credit card and got it paid each month - handed in notice and parents were very annoyed and basically made her 6 weeks notice hell and parents refused to pay the last month bill that came a month after she left - she got stuck with it'

This is obviously a possibility. The thing is though trust is a two way street. They trust me with the lives, safety and happiness of their 4 small DC, they trust me in their home, they trust me with their money (no receipts/proof ever asked for). I think I should trust them to reimburse me £200. If they gave me a £200 kitty at the start of the month or a credit card to use, would you think this is ok? So ok for them to take a chance on me, but silly for me to take a chance on them?!

Ultimately it's what works best for us.

Can I have some advise please I started working as a registered nanny for a nurse last September due to cold weather and dark nights and alot of evening shifts I haven't needed to take the children out and they haven't wanted to they've been happy enough staying home playing outside with friends and playing games with me and other games they already have. However with it becoming warmer and the holidays I have said from day one of starting I am happy to take the two (6 years old and 8) to museums, bowling, cinema, parks etc. However this was recently brought up and the parent said I could get paid back this via tax which wouldnt be while a year later on a tax return and i doubt daily outings can be given back, I have said no to this due to working for an Income and not funding the children for a year out of my wages. Are parents meant to pay for their own children outings and even my costs as I am working? Just need some advise with me being new to this. Plus the mum already gets 80 percent back for childcare costs so doesn't pay my full wages out of her own wages.

Parents pay for everything. Parking. Entrances. Food and drink costs

Plenty of businesses who have employees that go out for meals have it put on expenses. My bosses have business lunches often they arent picking up the bill. This is our equivalent if we are taking kids out for lunch or for a drink then our drinks and meals get paid too.