Taking Nanny On Holiday

[Whoooosh]

For various reasons we have decided to take our nanny on holiday with us-just wondered if anyone else had done the same and had any tips.
We want her to enjoy it as much as us although she won't be taking it as holiday.

We thought a couple of hours looking after dd in the afternoon,plus babysitting a few evenings-is that reasonable.

She seeems delighted we want to take her and offered to stay in a 1 star hotel instead of ours (sweet).We would of course not do this-she has exactly the same room as we have.

when she goes away with us it has nothing to do with her paid vacations that she is entitled to take the rest of the year.

If it is in the contract then obv she doesn't have much choice, but usually I take into account the fact that our ideal holiday location may not be hers, and she is also giving up on her own social life whilst she is away with us - so she doesn't see her boyfriend, she has to miss her pilates class etc. I choose to do this by giving her time off - my company does it by pay eg a healthy expense account for meals and drinks out, as well as business class travel and great hotels. I also get an overnight allowance to cover phone calls and incidentals and if I am away for more than 40 nights a years then I get a flat daily allowance on top to compensate for disruption to home life. I guess you can chat with your nanny as to whether she would value time off or cash more, but I've never given mine that choice.

I find it depends on the kind of holiday & how many children the family have.

The families I've worked for with one child have been more willing to give me a few hours free while they spend some time with their child. Those with 2 or more children appreciate an extra pair of eyes/hands at all times, especially around swimming pools.

I've aways liked to be compensated with more money when i go away because i share a room with the kids so can be woken up in the night and it is harder work. I've never seen it as a holiday and given the choice wouldn't do it but it is part of being a nanny. When i go away i loose all contact with my friends, no internet or phone and obviously there is no one to spend any down time with away from the family so it can be pretty lonely. Maybe a good idea is to offer a bit extra money if you can afford it and make clear to the nanny what hours you'll expect her to work. There is nothing worse than being kept in the dark about plans and not knowing what to expect.

I think it's extraordinary that people expect the nanny to sleep with the children.

NKF...I slept with the baby once whilst on holiday & I didn't mind as I was in a very exclusive resort!

I can't & never will be able to afford £25,000 for a holiday!

Oh the attitudes here are so wonderful to read, I really feel reassured now that I'm not completely being unreasonable with my MB.

They seem to feel that as I have no food bills etc I should be over the moon to work a lot harder - changing all the beds for their guests and tidying up so the house looks spotless (with three children...)

I am more than willing to do what she asks, as long as they ask, and as long as we are clear about how much time off I am entitled to have once I am there.

10 - 5!? I am working from 7.30 when they are awake and some evenings the children didn't eat til 8.30 or 9. MB often offered me a 2 hour break in the afternoon; one time I took a nap and was woken by children peering through my window, and we're isolated so I would prefer a bit longer, even if it's less often, so I can escape to another town and explore a little, or go for a longer walk.

I am getting a much clearer idea about what to ask for in terms of time off now.

Looks like I can ask, and feel like I'm being reasonable now - this has been stressing me out so much!

NannyClaire, I think you have to experience a bad holiday before you realise exactly what you're willing to do sadly.

I hope you have a good one this year!

We took our nanny away with us skiing every year. She got to ski in the mornings with us when the boys were in ski school and then take the boys to play in the afternoons. She also did one evenings baby sitting. We all ate together in the chalet and always made sure she had her own room and she used to go out a couple of times with the chalet staff. We always paid for everything and we all had a blast - we really miss her! I think what really worked for us was we all got on really well and everyone was happy to muck in together. We never worried about buying drinks, meals out etc as we saw that as part of our thank you to her.

Hehehe, I am noticing one big difference: going away on holiday is one thing, going to a second home is another.

They do seem to like their interior design magazines and I think it's a bit unrealistic with three children to expect a tranquil cream sofa-ed retreat!

just to add.... i had a wonderful time staying in my families second home!

which was a huge farm in the midle of nowhere in wales... (with no phone signal, no tv etc)

basically the children went off with daddy, playing in the fields and driving tractors etc (daddy driving them), and me and mummy boss spent loads of time outside, picking our home grown fruit and veg, and making cakes and bread and jams etc

agh it was so lovely.... i was so happy there!

I didnt really do the cleaning.... but i was happy to make up the beds for new guests.... it was a house that slept 14 so we normally had at least 1 or 2 extra families staying!

mummyboss, daddyboss and me were a team and we all had a really fantasic time, as did the children! But i LOVE cooking and i personally feel so staisfied when we all sit down to eat delcioue home made local food.

We got most of our meat and dairy direct from the farm next door (who butchered his own meat as well, and kept some of his animals on our farm, in exchange for delicouse happy meat while we were in residence), we even had our own spring for water so we were almost self sufficient.

I think i liked it becuase actually i didnt look after the children much at all.... and because me and mummy boss got on so well... she was more like a mum to me and it was her who taught me how to properly cook!

It certainly brought back memories for me,reading this.Having worked as a nanny ,i only travelled, with two of my famlies , once when i was in the USA and we all went to florida , i slept with the baby and had off my normal time off ;they paid for every thing ,it was after all not my holiday ,just a different place to stay and work .I didnt mind ,i would never be able to afford the place we stayed in . My second time ,i went with my family to France for a month , i didnt have any time off as we were stuck up a mountain and i couldnt get any where.I also didnt think to ask ,just excepted that i was always working; had the baby in my room ,so got up at night too. I did be come a little frustrated by the end of the month. the kids where lovely , but i found myself not working as well as i should ,because i didnt have time to myself( instead of playing games with the elder two 14,7, when the baby was asleep , i sunbathed instead)I was taken to loads of nice places and didnt spend any money ,apart from the gifts i brought, again i was working just in a different place.I was slightly nieve when i was younger and nannying was completly diferent 20 years ago.

ah Nanny L that sounds like my idea of heaven too! Cut from the same cloth, you and I!? I worked in Wales for a while (as a DVD Programmer, my "past life" haha) and badly wanted to buy a little house somewhere and grow all my own veg! Especially when I saw the property prices back then o_O

I think it's a case of getting on with the parents. I have nothing against mucking in and helping change the sheets, of course not! It's part of family life, and I'm there to help the family, I don't see Nannying as "I watch kids, full stop." Helping the children get the best out of their home life means helping EVERYONE in the home, so I am 100% fine with helping out.

Sounds like you became part of the family whereas I am feeling like I'm "staff" - the middle child actually used the word "servant" and I just brushed it off at the time, thinking he was just being a lippy 6 year old! There, when I admit things like that I think I'm being oversensitive. How terribly British! hahaha. I hope it's just a "getting to know you" transition thing, and once we all know each other a bit better we'll relax and click.

It really helps to talk about it here

Oh a part of that just jumped out at me, the child said "servant"...where did he hear that???

In my awful position the youngest child (4) said "You are not the Boss, Mummy pays you!"

Well firstly we are staying in a very child-friendly hotel-to make life easier for our nanny to be honest.Not much for her to be able to entertain a 2yr old on a beach in the Maldives for 2 wks so we have booked somewhere we wouldn't necessarily go on our own.

It is a lovely hotel and she will have a junior suite next to ours with an inter connecting door.We plan to move the cot and share "lie-ins" between us.

It will be a normal working week but she won't be working all day as we obviously want to be with dd as much as possible.She will actually have more time off I think and of course no ironing or making meals.

Her contract at home says 3 nights babysitting a week and I she has never done more than one night and many weeks none.She will babysit more on holiday but we have bought a portable DVD player and a supply of DVD's for her.She won't be stuck in a dark room either as we have deliberately booked a room with a seperate sitting room for her.

Some evenings we will all eat together either in or out of the hotel-others dp and I will go on our own.

I am pretty sure she will have as good a time as us even though she is "working".

Whoooosh, Sounds very like one of the holidays I went on...I had a few hours to myself every day, either morning or afternoon...We ate together every lunchtime & I ordered room service every night whilst M&D went to the restaurant...I'm sure you'll all have a great time.

Top tip for a Nanny is to take plenty books, I have been known to read 9 books in 2 weeks whilst on a working holiday!

i always take my Nintendo DS and revert to a teenager when i'm working away

How old are you nannyj? [nosey emoticon]...I also take a pack of cards to play Patience & I buy lots of postcards on my first day.

Ahem i'm ahem 32. Is it really too old to have a Nintendo?

Thiks has been very interesting reading - thanks. We are going 'home' for the summer - we live in Glasgow for now while studying but still have our house in the scottish Islands and are going to be there for 5 weeks in the summer. Our Nanny is coming with for the summer, having a week off while we are there as her parents are coming to visit (we have a holiday cottage they are staying in - nanny will have the Grannie Flat so self sufficient).

She is a nutty surfer (in the nicest possible way ) and the area we live in has some of the best surfing in the UK, so she is pretty keen to come. I realise though that I will have to be pretty sorted in making sure we dont ask her to do excessive hours by mistake/default as she is around - she normally does a 40 hour week for us, so have to keep that under control - though she's as much a friend as a nanny now so I can see us hanging out in the evenings as well cos we want to.

So thanks for making me think about this - I'll have to be organised!

Ha-Ha!...I was just about going to let you off as far as 25!

DS are addictive though!

I took my laptop and the Sopranos box set, should be getting my new Scrubs boxset through soon too

hurrah!

Had to stop myself buying the One Tree Hill box set yesterday. Am obviously a 19 year old stuck in the body of a 32 year old.

I wouldn't know, I don't think I've used one of those games since I was about 16...Am I missing something then???

Harrisey, would I be right in assuming you live in Harris?

I have family up in Lewis, love it there...Looking forward to moving up when I'm of a certain age & running a B&B!