What jobs can I get my mothers help to help me with?

[PontyPants]

Have name changed if you recognise me please don't out me.
I am currently 34 weeks pregnant with twins and have taken on a weekday mothers help as my DH works long hours.

We wanted her to primarily look after the needs of our older DC (5 and 3) so they don't feel pushed out when twins arrive. Added to which I am struggling with school run as so large already.
But finding jobs for her to do quite hard - feel sure that when we are doing laundry for six this will change somewhat

She is doing me about 4 hours a day at the mo, about 45 mins of which is school drop off/preschool pickup.
She is unstacking dishwasher
generally tidying playroom/dining room/kitchen
Doing laundry
Prepping (light) lunch - (she has said cooking not her forte)

What other jobs can I get her to do?
TIA

Isn't she there to play with children rather than housework? Or is that not the idea?

when i worked as a mother's help I used to:

keep playroom tidy
put laundry away
prep/cook tea if mum didn't have time
bath the kids and get them pyjama'd
vacuum occasionally

A mothers help will do light housework as well as childcare.

Sweeping up and wiping surfaces after meals
Can she prep ingredients for dinner according a recipe?

I would just focus on getting her into a relatively automous routine now with lots of little jobs so when the babies arrive you don't have to constantly be saying 'now could you do this?'

Northern Shores yes to some extent but both DC are out for the majority of the time she is here atm.

She will be playing with them post school run when the babies arrive (her hours will extend) and in this longer time in the morning that she now is am hoping she can help/be a spare pair of hands with the babies when they arrive though.

It's more trying to keep on top of things for the time being

Good idea re prepping ingredients though - will give her a go with that tmw.

So when your twins arrive, she will be there for 4 hours in the morning still or will you increase her hours?
What do you want her to do then (if you have to cover the afternoons with 4 children to get fed and put to bed)
If you are planning to hand her the twins to feed and burb and sterilize bottles etc that's fine - it will easily take a couple of hours in anyone's morning but if not, I'd be trying to make her time as productive as possible especially as twins are often early and need lots of TLC in the early days (slow feeders etc).
Sod forte - I'd start putting together lots of easy recipes that anyone can cook so you have a ton of easy meals and she is in practice at chopping veg, making spag bols/casseroles etc.
Is she doing a lot of unnecessary tidying? Is it a good time to sort out some outgrown toys and clothes that can be boxed and labelled for a few years?

Lolol at sod forte!
Yes will be a bit stricter about getting her doing some chopping tomorrow.

She will still be here for 4 hours in am and another 3 in the pm to get thru the witching hour and get older DC's fed and bathed and leave house tidy and ready for next day.

I think it is best to try and get the relationship into where it needs to be before your babies arrive and expectations have been set. Ultimately you want to be in a place where she is flexible but also uses her initiative to get things done. Takes a spare 15 mins and gets the veg prepped for the evening meal etc and doesn't wait to be asked for everything. If she's not that sort of person then you will need to meal plan and start putting together a day planner that she can reference every morning. Laundry - Mon/Wed/Fri etc.

If you will need to be spending most of the day sitting down trying to tandem feed, or want to be comfortable that the day to day routine stuff is in hand then given your dates, I would sit down and run through expected tasks sooner rather than later. You won't be in an emotional place later if it all gets a bit fraught.

That said - twins is going to be hard and she's only there for 7 hrs a day. If you can hand them over for a couple of hours in the morning and get some shut eye I would jump at the chance and let the tidying be damned.

You will also want to spend some time with your older two so there's a careful balance to strike between running yourself ragged while she has two babies dozing in her arms; and spending 12 weeks chained to the sofa while your older two children start to feel resentful.

7 hrs a day is practically full-time. All this wiping of surfaces is simply au-pair stuff as far as I am concerned. But I am prepared to be flamed that I am asking for housekeeper and supernanny rolled into one. I can't say that I am familiar with the usual tasks or salary of a mothers help, but it's not sole care, it's not live in and it's not an aupair so I am assuming it is at least minimum wage so what I have outlined is not unreasonable, it's just a question of what's achievable and what your priorities are.

she should be able to make simple meals ie lasagne, fish pie, sausage casserole etc

things that can be made and simply put in oven to cook

she needs to learn to cook NOW

anyone who can read, should be able to follow simple receipes if can make off her head the above

i would try and get some sleep once you have fed/winded them once twins are born

i would recommend you think about her focusing on the babies when other dc are around. Bf aside they will need you far more than the babies.

not much help with what to do with her now but worth thinking about for then.

not sure why you are employing her for 4 hours a day already and then looking for jobs for her to fill her time!? surely the point of having her there is that she is 'helping' trying to find things for her to do seems a bit odd. can't you just get her to do the school runs and then have the last few weeks of pregnancy to yourself at home?

I agree with no57 - her focus should be on the babies - it's easy to sit holding/watching/rocking newborns - it's your older two who will be desperate for you attention.

When I was a mother's help for baby twins and a two year old, I would vacuum and mop floors, clean bathroom, prep dinner (even though I didn't know how to cook at that time), make-up bottles and bottle-feed, do the laundry, play and read stories with two year old, feed the children their dinners, bath the children, change the bed linen and make the beds, clean the fridge and microwave. It did take me and my boss a little while to get in the swing of things as I often had to ask her what to do but she ended up giving me set jobs for different days e.g Monday floors, Tuesday - bathroom Wed - changing and washing bed linen. It was wonderful practice for having my own kids and running my own home. Good luck and hope you both settle into a nice routine soon.

Get her to do more cleaning and definitely more cooking. If her food is edible then ask her to cook for the freezer. Get her to help you clear out all your DC's drawers and cupboards, sort all the toys and get rid of anything you don't need. It would also be fine to ask her to clean your fridge and kitchen cupboards so that everything is ready for the babies. Once they come you won't have time for her to do anything like that.

What might be handy is to get her to sort through all your old baby clothes and batch them up according to age/size and season. I had children at different times of the year and so had lots of newborn stuff for high summer which was never going to be worn with a November born. It all came out together as DD2 was v early and I was forever rescuing the poor child from randomly unsuitable outfits that DH came up with, until I had time to bundle them up and stick them back in a box. I never had the time to see where all the gaps were (long sleeved vests, cardis, etc) and do some advance shopping point well meaning relatives away from yet another pink bunny rabbit