Thinking of taking part time 'mother's help' on holiday with us, what to pay?

[oneplusone]

I have a cleaner who is lovely Bulgarian girl and she has been a hit with the children and has become a sort of 'mother's help', ie i can call her as and when and if she's free she will come and help out/mind the children for me for a few hours here and there. I pay her hourly, same rate for cleaning and minding the children.

We are now thinking of asking her if she will come on holiday with us in the summer so DH and I can have a proper break. We would want her to do say around 3 hours a day minding the kids, perhaps some mornings, some afternoons and some evenings. We would pay for the holiday and for the hours she works, but what else, if anything should we pay her on top? We wouldn't expect her to do any cleaning, just minding the kids and the rest of the time would be her own free time. So she would be getting a free holiday (sort of). She would have her own room as we will rent a 3 bedroom cottage.

Any comments/experiences would be much appreciated. TIA

You also need to bear (bare?) in mind that although she'll have lots of free time, she won't have anyone to spend it with and in away from home this can be very lonely.

Hi, yes she may miss out on pay from other jobs she does during the week so would have to maybe make that up if it's not covered by what she will do for us.

And yes, i realise she will be 'alone' during her free time. I guess i'll just have to ask her and see what she says and explain the whole idea to her. Her english is not brilliant so that will be fun!

Have either of you done this? We've been on hols before with the kids and whilst it's nice to get away, i would like to spend some time with DH and have a break ourselves too and taking the cleaner seems to be the only way!

A lot of people go to places with kid's clubs as this gives the parents a break and gives the children other children to play with

Will you pay for all of her food/meals also?

Can you recommend somewhere with a kids club? That's a good idea, hadn't thought of that. My kids will be, by the time we go on hols, 5 (DD) and 2 (DS), would the 2 year old be old enough for a kids club?

We will pay for all her food/meals as well. She'll have brekkie with us i suppose so it'll be lunches and dinners and snacks and drinks. I suppose some of her meals might also be with us as well, not sure really, she might not like my cooking!

Speaking as a nanny that often works holidays abroad with families it can put a strain on a working relationship taking your live-out part-time help that you have a good relationship with at home on holiday with you. You will be together 24/7 whether she's looking after the children or not.

It totally ruined my relationship with a lovely family I babysat for purely because my personality and the parents personalities turned out to be not-that-compatible. Nothing to do with the way I cared for their child at all.

If you think you could deal with having this girl as a live-in nanny then she's probably okay to have on holiday but if you don't think you could eal with that don't take her. Make sure you have an absolutely watertight contract about what time off she's entitled to, what you expect her to work, what you will pay her, what you will provide...

Mark Warner have kids clubs and offer evening babysitting or if you want to take a nanny there is a company that specialises in providing holiday nannies (holidaynanny.org?). As a guide I charge £350/week as a holiday nanny which covers helping with travel, 6 days worked per week with a max of 10 hours per day and 3 evenings babysitting per week. Overtime is charged at £10/hour. Fewer hours would probably be charged at a lower rate, but min £200 because obviously I'm away from home and my DP. I expect all travel, visa and accomodation costs paid. Children in with me in a hotel room overnight is £50/night. 24/6 care is charged at maternity nanny rates of £600/week. Rates will vary from nanny to nanny but agencies have said I'm around average.

I have never done the Mark Warner type of thing, my holidays with children's clubs have been in French hotels such as the Normandy Barriere in Deauville where they have children's clubs for babies up to age 12 with different activities according to age.

I presume most holiday village type holidays like Mark Warner and Club Med etc have provision for all ages.