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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Nannies & light housework

20 replies

Olbasoil · 09/12/2013 10:58

If you were asked to do the following

Tidy sitting room daily
Keep kitchen clean daily
Tidy, dust & Hoover the whole house weekly
Thoroughly clean 3 bathrooms weekly
Hoover stairs weekly
Change & wash bed linen weekly
Clean oven monthly
Clean inside windows

Would you consider this as light housework. Not for me by the way , I don't even ask my cleaner to do all of that !

OP posts:
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Cindy34 · 09/12/2013 11:01

No. Bathrooms, oven, windows are in my view not light housework.

Cindy34 · 09/12/2013 11:02

Dusting is probably a bit much as well.

Is it a Housekeeper role, rather than nanny role?

If they were doing all that, when would they care for the children?

Yerazig · 09/12/2013 11:24

A nanny housekeeper role yes...but not a traditional nanny who will just do nursery duties and any mess they and the children and created throughout the day.

lilyaldrin · 09/12/2013 11:26

Sounds ok for a nanny/HK but as a nanny I would have only kept the kitchen/living room/children's rooms tidy, changed children's beds and done children's laundry. When living in I also cleaned a bathroom that was used only by me and the children.

mrswishywashy · 09/12/2013 11:37

A nanny/housekeeper role maybe as long as children at school during the day.

As a sole nanny role, no! Any household duties related to children ok eg tidying lounge/kitchen (not picking up after parents), childrens bedding washed is fine. No windows or oven.

I've worked in a few households where they have nanny/housekeepers and employers expect five star standard, its the children that miss out.

Olbasoil · 09/12/2013 12:28

Thank you all for confirming that its to much to ask of a Nanny. I will pass it on

OP posts:
MrsCakesPremonition · 09/12/2013 12:32

I would have thought that the light housework would only cover tidying up after the children's play - whether that is in their bedrooms, a play room or other space. Preparing and clearing up meals. Tidying the bathroom after bath time (so yes to wiping down the bath, but no to scrubbing the toilet). Maybe doing the children's laundry.

Definitely no window or oven cleaning or anything which involved clearing up after the parents rather than the children.

LifeTooShort · 09/12/2013 12:39

I wouldn't ask my nanny to do that. Her duties are to clean the nursery, do the DC's laundry and clean and tidy up after them. The only other thing I ask her to do - and only because the DC are at nursery all morning - is empty the dishwasher and unpack the Ocado.

At some point, when the DC are at school all day, I plan to switch to a nanny/housekeeper and then I would expect most of those jobs to be done. But the job advert will be clear on what the duties are and the salary offered will match.

grabaspoon · 09/12/2013 13:24

Tidy sitting room daily- leave it as its found

Keep kitchen clean daily - leave it as its found but will clean/spray what ive used

Tidy, dust & Hoover the whole house weekly - Hoover my areas as needed and keep my areas tidy or how they've been left

Thoroughly clean 3 bathrooms weekly - No

Hoover stairs weekly - If time but generally no will do hallway though

Change & wash bed linen weekly - kids beds yes

no I wont clean the oven i may spray kidsnbedroom windows if i notice handprints

Clean oven monthly Clean inside windows

Blondeshavemorefun · 09/12/2013 19:15

As a nanny I would happily clean kitchen if I got it messy - obv not clean Monday all the weekend stuff and keep living /playroom tidy

Do children's bed linen

Rest of it no and def no way to oven cleaning !!!!

MaternityNanny31 · 09/12/2013 19:26

Tidy sitting room daily (Yes if the childs mess but not after the adults)
Keep kitchen clean daily (Yes, again not if I found the kitchen a mess from previous night, I mean I would do it but it would bother me)
Tidy, dust & Hoover the whole house weekly (No, this isn't light housework)
Thoroughly clean 3 bathrooms weekly (Also no)
Hoover stairs weekly
Change & wash bed linen weekly (Childrens yes, but once fortnightly unless ill/dirty)
Clean oven monthly (no. I will clean it if I spill something but this is a hated job and hardly fair)
Clean inside windows (Never, I am not a window clean but a professional nanny)

From the perspective of professional nanny/maternity nurse who is impeccably tidy and has always been told they go above and beyond the call of duty. I am a tidy and very clean person but at the same time too many duties is taking the p!

TeamSouthfields · 09/12/2013 19:35

no.way!

MarshmallowCupcake · 09/12/2013 21:21

No way I'd clean an oven or windows - unless there was sticky little fingerprints on them! That is a housekeeper/nanny role for when kids are at school.

Lucylouby · 09/12/2013 22:13

A nanny should not be cleaning windows or the oven. When i was a nanny, they had a cleaner to do the cleaning. I never even changed the children's beds. A the children got older, I was doing all the families ironing, but they never expected me to do this, the ironing pile was kept in the play room and used to pile up and up and it never took me that long once I'd done the children's stuff anyway. It wouldn't have bothered me to wipe the children's bathroom over, but not a proper clean, just a quick wipe over to keep it hygienic. But not fair to expect a nanny to be picking up after adults or tidying up their mess. I wouldn't want to come to work on a Monday to find a whole weekends mess left for me to tidy up either, even if it was children's stuff. There has to be some degree of fairness. You can't expect nanny to leave you a tidy house on a Friday for them to come to work on a Monday to find a mess. This family sounds like they need a house keeper rather than a nanny.

eurycantha · 14/12/2013 20:06

Ilook after three school age children of 7 7 and 8.when they were small I did general nursery duties of looking after them and cleaning tidying their bedrooms,playroom and bathroom.when they went to school their parents kept me on,I iron and Hoover dust around.I would not clean the ovens or do the windows unless the children have made marks on them.nannies should tidy up after themselves after being in the kitchen but not clean up after parents.
Are the children at home while you are meant to be doing all these things OP?when my three are at home I will put playing ,taking them out above cleaning or ironing!

Olbasoil · 15/12/2013 15:35

Eurycantha

I am not a Nanny and as tempting as it maybe sometimes, I don't employ one either. I was speaking to a Nanny at my sons school, we have become quite friendly and she was telling me what her job entails.

OP posts:
Blondeshavemorefun · 15/12/2013 16:27

im assuming the nanny you spoke to agreed to these duties and are in her contract?

i also assuming that she may not be an uk qualified or exp nanny, as tbh few qual/very exp nannies would agree to this, but many foreigners would- apologizes if wrong

Olbasoil · 15/12/2013 18:34

No, by all accounts her workload increased over time. She is a NNEB, has worked for them for a good 10 years.

OP posts:
nbee84 · 15/12/2013 19:40

So having been there 10 years does that mean that all the children are at school? And the job has morphed into nanny housekeeper so that she can remain in the job? There are very few jobs that would be solely nanny duties only if the children were at school and nanny was still being paid for full time hours.

Something else that can happen is that nanny does a few household duties as a 'favour' or to help out at a busy time and these can soon be seen as part of the nanny's job and the employers expect them to be carried out. Though in this case cleaning ovens and windows seems to be above that!

Blondeshavemorefun · 15/12/2013 23:25

As nbee said it sounds like all children are at school if been there 10yrs and job is now a nanny/hk role

My last job turned to that - all kids at school - mb offered role to me I declined as she made me redundant and now have a nanny/hk who basically does what you have on the list (tho not oven/window cleaning) and she is a saint :)

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