Nanny's 2 hours free, what is reasonable to ask?

[choosyfloosy]

Any ideas? My lovely nanny now drops ds to preschool one day a week at 9 and picks him up at 11.20. We'd agreed that she'd look after a friend's child during that time, and she seemed happy with this, but this has now fallen through.

Obviously it depends on the nanny - she has mentioned cleaning and cooking for her previous employer - but are there definite no-nos? She's a qualified, experienced nanny - is she likely to walk if I ask her to do the ironing or clean the bathroom? I hate cleaning myself and would be royally p'd off if e.g. my office job were quiet one day so I was asked to scrub the toilet. I just don't want to lose her - any thoughts?

Does she already do nursery duties in that time? Could she do children's ironing/laundry or tidying?

Could you not just make it a part of a 'bonus' for her? I had this in one nanny job and as long as my usual nanny duties were carried out-time was my own and i really valued that. It made my job feel abit special....

Fair enough kkey, I think that's reasonable. We're not going to be able to afford much of a cash bonus, as we decided to employ a nanny based on dh taking a full-time job, which he has decided not to take... oh dear. Anyway, we think we can afford her, and she's great, but there won't be many perks or working holidays in the Seychelles going for her, so a bit of relaxed time to herself may be the best we can offer. Thanks for your thoughts all.

Send her on child related errands. Pick of birthday party presents, buy school clothes, run to the store for children's food, nappies, etc. So long as it's for the children, it is fair game.

Or, ask the nanny what she would like to with the time. She might have ideas of her own that you would find equally acceptable.

I had a nanny who made a scrap book of the kids while she worked for us. It is priceless. I would have been quite happy for her to work on the scrapbook while the kids were at school/nursery.

I would ask her. Anything to do with the kids will be fine, but she probably won't mind loading your dishwasher and doing similar "light" household tasks.