Nanny - questions about practicalities

[dodosaurus]

We have a nanny starting work for us soon. It's our first time using a nanny and it's her first nanny job (she has worked in other childcare settings before). I have some questions about what is "normal" so that I can at least approach our nanny with some suggestions about how to work things like food and a kitty.

Food - we have said that she is welcome to eat meals with the children (she will be working Mon Tue and Wed from 7:30-5:30) and obviously our expectation is that she will provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to our two children. How does food normally get organised? We tend to meal plan pretty much every meal at the moment and get a weekly food shop. One thought I had was to ask the nanny to jot down what ingredients/food she needs for the children and her once a week and we will just add that to the food delivery. Is this normal? Are there better ways?

Travel - we live in London so the nanny will not be using a car. I was planning on giving her an Oyster with auto top-up so that she can use that for buses, etc. Again, is this normal?

Kitty - I'm planning on giving the nanny a weekly kitty for things like playgroups, snacks in cafes, etc. For so many of the things that a kitty will be used for, receipts are not available. Is it normal to just reckon on £x a week and let a nanny get on with that with no receipts? I'm thinking it will soon be obvious if the kitty is being exceeded and then we can discuss whether my maths is right or whether the kitty needs to be increased.

Food - explain that you meal plan and have your nanny help with planning children's meals. They would eat with the children and would be eating the same meal or very similar so may involve adding a few ingredients.
With those hours I expect nanny to be having lunch at work, possibly a light tea.

Travel - sorry not London based. Oyster would work. Only issue I see is potential for it being used for personal travel.

Kitty - I would start with around £2.50-3 per day per child and ask that expenses are tracked. After a couple of weeks you get a feel for what is typical expenditure. A lot depends on age of children and cost of activities in the area.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. If you register an Oyster card, you can actually see what journeys have been taken, so I guess that is why I feel hopeful it won't be used for personal travel.

Buy a special wallet for the nanny kitty and you can put the Oyster - plus any membership cards etc the kids have - in there? Purse stays with the day bag etc for the kids stuff, and receipts go into it too.

(Incidentally, my DD chose a very 'childish' wallet for this purpose, which I liked because it was 'kids' money, IYSWIM)

All sounds good.

In my jobs I normally have the log in info for Ocado and use the app to do the weekly shopping. If your nanny is going to be sole charge it can make things a lot easier for you- she can meal plan and add what she needs, and since she's at home she can also check stock levels of more general things she may use such as laundry/dishwashing detergent, paper towels, nappies and wipes etc. Then you can just add on what you want for your meals.

Oyster sounds fine.

Kitty also sounds fine- in some jobs they have access to a bank account & card so the employers can see all of the transactions and can just transfer money over when necessary, but this probably won't be necessary if the nanny isn't going to be making many purchases. If she's going to be in charge of buying shoes/ uniform, haircuts, dry cleaning, gift buying etc it can be handy though.

The nanny can also jot down whatever cash purchases she's made each day in a little notebook if she doesn't get a receipt.

Good luck.