Nanny doing housework

[traintracks]

Some advice please. I am looking for a nanny for two days a week and my children are both at school/nursery. Ideally I wanted school and nursery pickup and drop off in term time and full days in holidays but, not too surprisingly, this seems like too few hours to interest anyone. So I am offering two full days, but that will leave the nanny with 5 hours a day with no kids during term time, which seems quite a lot.

I know that traditionally, nannies only do housework that is directly related to the kids e.g. Kids laundry, tidying, cooking etc, but I don't have enough of that to fill 10 hours per week! If you were working for me and had that much child free time, would you be happy to do other stuff? I am thinking hoovering, ironing, a bit of cleaning.

Any opinions welcome (though please can this not turn into a discussion about why don't I just take the youngest out of nursery and leave him with the nanny as it is complicated) but I would genuinely like to hear opinions about whether I would be reasonable to ask this of a prospective nanny

Thanks in advance

I would, though not ironing as I am bad at that (maybe you could argue that I would get better with experience). Gardening, easy DIY, going shopping, baking cakes for school cake sale, all that sort of thing. Discuss it with job applicants, also put something in the ad about it so they know about it before applying.

Most traditional nannies wouldn't be happy doing the housework. But if you advertise and state clearly your job is more of a nanny/housekeeper job role then I'm sure you could find some applicants. I think there was another thread a week or so ago where the nanny and the employer had some confusing in what housekeeping was needed doing resulting in the nanny leaving. So in the ad and interviewing make sure your clear what your expectations are.

I think you could easily find normal nanny things to do for those 10 hours. Then you aren't cutting down on the amount of nannies who are interested in the position. To get a long term 2 day nanny you're better off finding someone who is otherwise occupied for the other 2/3 days of the week (studying or another position), otherwise you risk losing them if a full time position comes up.

So you've got your normal nanny nursery duties......
coming home clearing up after breakfast, emptying dishwasher and wiping surfaces. (you do need to state in your ad you want nanny to empty dishwasher etc)
Cleaning, hoovering and tidying childrens bedrooms, changing bedding.
Washing, ironing and putting away childrens clothes.
Making freshly cooked meals for the evening and ones for later in the week which you can freeze.
Tidying and cleaning playroom (if you have one).

Plus anything job wise that would make your life easier,
I always add running errands on my contract, I think most nannies don't mind doing it.

Things like. getting stuff together for school things, costumes, cakes, easter bonnets.
Dry cleaning, picking up parcels from the post office, buying presents and cards for kids birthday parties,
Sorting out toys, tidying the children's toys in the garden.
Waiting in for deliveries.
I always got my ocado order for a nanny day so she could put it away.
Shopping for milk etc.

I never struggled to find things for my nanny/mother's help to do. Orignally the plan was nanny/housekeeper, but I couldn't find someone decent who could/would do both.

Batch cooking and freezing is ideal

I wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't take the job in the first place (unless I was desperate and in this job market that time may well come!).

There are so many nannies looking for work at the moment that I'm sure you'll find someone to do this. The only risk is them leaving when something better comes along.

Most nannnies have trained in childcare or a related field and chosen to work with children because they like working with children, not because they like doing the school/nursery run and hoovering. I don't know any nanny that would choose a job where there wasn't a child at home full time. I have a friend who had been looking for work for a while, finally took a job for school age DC, they pay full-time and don't ask her to do much in the house, fantastic! Except she's bored shitless and looking for another job with a baby!!

I would do it.

However, you might have a bit of difficulty finding a person who could do it as well as you wanted it all done. You might find you had a good nanny whose hoovering was not up to scratch and would then have to decide where to take it from there.

If I were you I would look for someone maybe a bit older who has already experience of running her own home or has some household experience as well as childcare under her belt (not necessarily employed as a housekeeper or cleaner but someone who isn't fresh out of student digs or has a mum at home dealing with everything).

I agree with Math about having a someone with experience of running their own house.
I have a wonderful nanny/housekeeper who basically just runs my house for me, doing all our beds, laundry, cooking a few times a week, puts online grocery shopping away but is also really great with the DCs, does lots of activities with them and takes them to groups etc. She is a mum to 4 DCs herself (teenaged/adults now)

I agree with math - you should be able to find someone to take the job without a problem, but they might not be as good at the housework as you'd like. An older nanny/housekeeper has the benefit of experience performing those tasks and running a household, meaning she'll be better able to anticipate things that need to be done or problems that might occur before they arise. You should decide whether your priority is a housekeeper who watches the kids in the afternoons or a nanny who tends to the house during the day, though, because getting someone who's a pro at both is hitting the jackpot.

There are people that will do this - my mum before her retirement did this for many years. The key is that although she was referred to as 'the nanny', in actual fact she was more of a 'mothers help/nanny/housekeeper/dog walker'.
Be clear about your expectations, in both any advert and interview, and then follow it up in the contract.
Mum found her work more through informal adverts in local shops/newsletters in affluent areas rather than formal agencies. Equally if the job market was quiet when she finished with a family, then she would put her own cards up in those affluent areas.

Yes - we have hit the jackpot with our nanny! And found her in exactly the way Stuck describes - she advertised herself on Gumtree.

some nannies will happily clean/iron - others wont (like me)

i didnt go to college for 2 years to clean someone toilet and scrub their floors(to be blunt) :)

5hrs a day is easily taken up with chores like karoleann said -and yes im happy to put shopping away/pick up dry cleaning/take stuff to post office etc

it is very hard to find a good nanny/hk

either you get fab childcare and crap cleaning or vice versia

for 2 days i would say bite the bullet and if you pay for an hour or two a day that they do nothing then so be it

would you want a nwoc - may be cheaper and you would feel less peeved at paying nanny to do nothing

does mean if children are ill/baker days/holidays you have cover :)

Thanks for all the opinions
What is an nwoc?
I am fully expecting someone with experience but not necessarily qualifications, which is fine - I realise that anyone who has gone to the trouble of getting qualifications is unlikely to only want two days a week anyway.

I take your point Karoleann,but most of that would be creating work. I buy kids presents online- if there was something so special that I couldn't get it online I'd want to go myself. Errands are few and far between.

I'm not necessarily expecting someone to clean the loo but, for example, if you are willing to hoover the kids rooms it doesn't seem too much of a stretch to do the rest of the house.

But the nanny bit is definitely more important so if the cleaning bit is done less well then so be it. Having the kids well looked after is more important!

Nwoc= nanny with own child

We have a nanny housekeeper, although over the last 4 years she has had at least one dc full time so the nanny bit has been much more important. The only cleaning she does is the dcs rooms and playroom and tidies up downstairs at the end of each day. We have a cleaner as well. This year dc1 will go to school and dc2 will start 2 mornings a week at nursery, so she will be child free 2 mornings a week. As Blondes said, we dont expect her to clean so our cleaner will still come in 2 days a week as normal. I just expect that our nanny will do the housekeeping bit in those 2 mornings and finally get the chance to have a cup of tea in peace! .