How much does your nanny do around the house?

[vinetime]

Just curious - we have a nanny who does a 42 hour week for us. 3 kids - one 8 year old at school full-time, one at nursery part time, one 20 month old.

I work, but in my studio at home, so I try to do what I can to make her job a bit easier, eg one of us will do the school run while the other looks after the younger two. I'll stay with my 3 year old daughter while she walks my youngest boy to sleep. Every week there are activities that I take one child to - one of my reasons for having a nanny was also so I get to spend one-on-one time with each of my kids. So it's not like she is full -on with all three all the time, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, she will always tidy the toys at the end of the day, keep kitchen surfaces clean and unload the dishwasher if needed. I sometimes ask her to do put away children's clean laundry, which she will do - but only if I am with the kids (while they have tea or whatever). She does cook their meals, but it's not much cooking, if you see what I mean! Dishes etc might be made in advance by me, or we're talking about putting a quiche or fish fingers in the oven - I don't expect her to whip up stuff from scratch!

I'm just increasingly feeling like she should try to help out on the housework front a bit more, ie empty a bin if it's needed, or quickly run the Hoover over the kitchen floor from time to time. What would other people be expecting in this situation? I'm not expecting her to be a housekeeper, but I see friends nannies doing a lot more in this department...

Hire a cleaner. Completely different job description.

Well I would expect, if she gets crumbs on the kitchen floor, a quick sweep or Hoover there. If a bin is full then rather than stuffing it to overflowing she should empty it.

Most nannies will do full nursery duties - laundry, ironing and putting away clothes for children, changing beds, cleaning their rooms etc.

Anything you might routinely do in 5 minutes to keep the house liveable/hygienic she should do too. Heavy cleaning or weekly hoovering etc I wouldn't expect. Mopping only if there's a major spillage.

To put it bluntly are your friends hiring 'proper' nannies qualified experienced etc. most nannies won't do the cleaning in the household and stick to just nursery duties ie tidying children's room tidying up mess that they have caused. You can ask your nanny to do more she may be happy to do more household cleaning (I wouldn't be ,I'm employed as a nanny to care for the child) you may want to employ a cleaner or infanct look for a nanny-housekeeper who would be then happy to do more cleaning.

I do have a cleaner already who does a big, proper clean once a week.

I'm not suggesting she should do all our cleaning, of course not. But what I'm asking is, given our set-up, would most nannies do (or be expected to do) a little more on the light housework front?

Yes she may have more time as she's not having all the children at once so she may have infact more spare time them other nannies. But usually that time would be spent cooking meals to be put in freezer. Sorting toys clothes their room Etc not cleaning. You can of course ask her some nannies would be more than happy to do it. But I know if I was in this position my boss wouldn't expect any extra cleaning to do other than any mess I have caused.

For example, should/would a 'proper nanny' (ie qualified) be ok with emptying a nappy bin or sweeping up the debris from under the high chair? These are things our nanny never does...similarly, she might tidy a child's bedroom if they have been playing in there, but she does not tidy them otherwise - nor change their bed linen etc.

I'm just trying to get a view on what is 'usual' and manageable - i'm not trying to suggest that she really should be doing loads of housework!

Yes absolutely to emptying the nappy bin and sweeping under a high chair.

It's a rare qualified nanny who will refuse to tidy bedrooms (although not if they're consistently just left in a mess by the parents) or change bed linen. Nursery duties like that are part if the reason many people pay the premium for having a nanny.

Yes nursery duties nannies would usually do would include tidying the child's room changing bed sheets. Emptying the nappy bin. Cleaning high chair sweeping up any food drop from lunch/dinner. Sorting out toys chucking broken toys away. Anything generally to do with the children. Most nannies would infact do all This day to day. Have you infact asked your nanny to do this? But she should really be doing all of it anyways. Maybe you need to get a clear idea of duties that you would like your nanny to complete and sit down and have a proper conversation with her so both of you are clear on what needs to be done. Hope that's been of some help.

OMG, she is doing a housekeeping job.
Doesn't a nanny look after kids

As a nanny, I would do all standard nursery duties ie. Washing, ironing, putting away children's clothes ( some nannies won't iron but will fold / put away ), clean and tidy children's bedrooms ie. Hoover/dust/change beds, all cooking for the children, tidying the main areas that the children use so it's tidy for when the parents get home, wash up or load/unload dishwasher, sweep the floor under highchair/table, mop if necessary, wipe down work surfaces if dirty. Most nannies would empty the kitchen bin if needed ( although might get irritated if parents crammed stuff in to avoid emptying on a regular basis ), would definitely empty nappy bins.

Have you had your nanny long? Did you discuss duties at the interview? Perhaps have a review and say you'd like a bit more done in terms of nursery duties. Good communication can solve a lot of problems.

Our nanny gives the children their lunch and tea on the days that she is with us and I know that she wouldn't dream of leaving the kitchen in a mess after a meal- I think that's a pretty basic requirement. She also takes in and puts out our laundry if I'm trying to get through a few loads in a day, which is really helpful. And she organises toys/art/craft resources because she's really tidy and organised and we are not!

She doesn't empty the nappy bin and I don't expect her to. Nor does our cleaner. That grim job is uniquely mine (although my Mum sometimes steps up!). If my son has a long sleep she will do ironing and tidy rooms, but again I don't really expect this if he's up and about and would like to think that she can have a half hour sit down without feeling she always has to do some chore or other.

I agree that they key is being clear about expectations but also being flexible within that.

I will stack the dishwasher with our stuff, wipe down the kitchen when I've used it, take the bin out if needed, put recycling in the recycling bin, throw out food if I see its out of date in the fridge, sweep the floor

Keep the lounge tidy - hoover if needs be but only if its our mess

Hoover charges room, change bedding, keep room tidy.

As I'm a live in I will wipe down the bathroom when I've used it, and empty bathroom bin/change loo roll etc.

Thanks everyone...

She's worked for us for a good few years now (since my daughter was 1) , and she's brilliant with the kids. I guess I'm very aware that some families ask their nannies to do a lot of domestic stuff and I wouldn't want to be a crappy employer. I'd far rather that the kids were engaged and happy rather than stuck in front of the TV while she does ironing! Saying that, I feel that there are things that she's never done that she perhaps should do...thanks.

Our nanny always empties the nappy bin, wipes down worksurfaces and sweeps up in the kitchen, tidies away toys, does the children's ironing and puts it away, will make a meal from scratch and batch freezes it most weeks, does some errands like picks up bread and milk and takes things to the post office, puts petrol in the car if it is low, sews name tags on school clothes, sometimes makes a cake ...

Our DC are 5 yo and 1 yo, and I am very rarely in the house when she is. So she has the children all the time (DC1 is in full time school). She is very experienced and does all of this without me asking.

I think your nanny could and should be doing much more.

No, I'd never ask my nanny to Hoover - unless the kids had thrown something on the floor.
Generally I ask them to, put kids washing away and do it.
Change their beds. (You could ask them to clean kids bedrooms, but I think it's a bit outside their job description).
You can ask her to cook more for them, start slowly with a couple of times a week.
Basically I expect them to kee my home tidy and clean, but not be a cleaner.
I have three and saving that one-on-one time is great. We've decided to get a nanny again for a couple of days a week.

Our nanny does all DCs laundry inc. ironing (and chucks some of my stuff in if she needs to fill the load), cooks 1 meal a day for them, changes their bedding and leaves the kitchen, living room and nursery in an immaculate state - I'd be pretty annoyed at not cleaning up food debris after a meal. My DCs are 20 mo twins who have a good 2 / 2-5 hour nap though so there is time in the day to do these things without compromising on their care - not sure what will be possible once they drop their nap.

I would expect (as a nanny):
cooking for the children and cleaning up afterwards - including wiping table/high chair and sweeping up child mess
children's laundry plus putting away
tidying away children's toys/crafts etc
changing children's bedding
generally leave the house as found in the morning.

I would also load and unload dishwasher in the course of the day, but would be unhappy to arrive in the morning to a full dishwasher and a load of dirty plates stacked up on the side awaiting me.

I'd expect to empty kitchen and nappy bins if they become full during the day.

Would not expect to hoover or mop floors unless children/I had spilled something

Would not clean bathrooms

Would not do anything in parent's room or parent's laundry

Any mess the children make should be cleaned up by the nanny if mess was made during her working hours imo.

In one nanny job I had to daily clean the child's bedroom, bathroom and play room. I would load and unload the dishwasher, do all the child's washing and ironing and do some errands.

In other nanny jobs I would muck in and do whatever needed doing and often things that definitely weren't in the contract. Give and take. I was conscious the parents had been out at work all day and want to come home and spend time with the child. Not start cleaning, tidying etc.