live out nanny duties

[lucywill]

is there a list anywhere - or does anyone have any suggestions for what a 4 day a week nanny should do as well as the obvious - looking after the kids? thinking about things like nursery duties and what this actually means in practice. be grateful for any suggestions, thanks lucy

Good question, I have always wondered exactly what 'nursery duties' actually means. I suspect that it will mean different things for different families.

Let me see if I can start a list... to which others add:

Loading / Unloading Dishwasher - Washing up crockery used during the day (so this does not include parents things, though if using a dishwasher you would hope the parents would just put their dirty plates in the dishwasher).

Childrens Laundry - Washing, Drying, Putting Away. Ironing (perhaps, but Health and Safety needs to be considered... small children and Irons are not good combination). If you want Ironing done, I would suggest stating that clearly in the list of duties (as an appendix to the written statement).

Children's Bedding - Changing the bedding ,Washing, Drying etc.

Tidying toys played with during that session (if your children make a mess during the weekend, you clean it up, don't expect nanny to do it on Monday morning.)

nannynick as ever, very thoughtful list. i agree about the iron bit... guess it is to be done when the kids are asleep at lunchtime ? thanks for that. now if you could just find me a lovely 4 day a week experienced and kind nanny for my little ds s that would be perfect!!! lucy

There must be more to add to the list. With luck some others will post their views.

Ironing is a tricky one, expect people's views will vary on it. In my current job, I don't Iron... I have little ones crawling around who don't take long lunchtime naps and don't sit in front of the TV for hours on end.
Have used the iron though, to put temporary name-tags in school clothes! So a quick 5 mins of ironing is possible.

a nanny should do be happy to do ALL nursery duties, so basically anything invloving care of your children

from tidying playroom/bedroom, to doing their washing of clothes ( poss ironing of their clothes,though I HATE ironing,and dont do it, but say that at the interview)to having a balanced diet

I tidy up the mess I make, and happy to unload the dishwasher, though dont want to do it all the time.

What does annoy nannies is when you tidy up playroom, iron clothes and put away on a friday etc and come on monday and the playroom is a mess, and clothes everywhere.

I try to leave the house as I would like to find it.

I am not paid to look after parents, and I wont tidy up after them round the house (thats what cleaners are for) but it is give and take and I am happy to go to dry cleaners,go shopping, pick up parcels etc if need me to

in a contract best to put in nursery duties only and then you can can do more if you want to

imananny - but what are Nursery Duties?
Difficult to put 'Nursery Duties' in a contract, if no one knows for sure what those actually are. Can you list what you feel ARE nursery duties.
So far I think your list is:
tidying playroom/bedroom
washing children's clothes
cooking meals
tidy up the mess made during the day
run small errands like picking up dry cleaning, small additional shopping items (not the full weekly shop), picking parcels (can you actually do that these days, as I find they want ID of the person to whom the parcel is addressed, in addition to the You Have A Parcel card).

to me nursery duties are ANYTHING that invloves to do with looking after the children and their needs

so basically what ever needs to be done to care for the childrento make sure they are happy,fed,contented and well looked after

the main ones are keeping playroom/bedroom tidy,do their washing/ironing, cooking for them, and playing with them

yes happy to do FULL shopping if need be, and was using the parcel thing as an example that I am happy to help out with odd things as and when, though many nannies dont

I feel we need a list of what people feel Nursery Duties actually means in practice.

If nanny is working such hours that they are involved in bedtime, then Nursery Duties could include Bathing Children.

In a previous thread, we tried listing some things that some nannies did, which were beyond the call of duty. That list included: pest extermination and sewer clearing.
I think most people will agree that those are not standard nursery duties... but if nursery duties was 'Anything' then those could be included, as they are to do with hygiene, health & safety.

Does anyone have a list of 'nursery duties' which they have given to their nanny?

Tending to livestock - keeping chickens for example is becoming increasingly popular.

sorry not being much help,have never had a LIST but just general nursery duties - which i would say for whatever the child needs, should be done

would not clean out drains

though I have taken car to garage to get new tyre as I had the time

and after reading that list you put nick, cant beleive one MB felt bad about asking nanny to pick up a parcel

things like that are once in a blue moon, and if I can help,then Im happy to

would be happy to collect eggs, but not clean them

tbh dont think you can class that as a nursery duty, as its nothing to do with the children (and thats what i call nursery duties)

I think the problem is that there can be fine line between what is something to do with the children and something to do with the running of the home.
For example, cleaning a filter on the tumble dryer is a maintenance task, to do with smooth running of the home. If the filter is not cleaned, then it affects the children's laundry, so there is a direct connection to the children. So does that connection, make it part of nursery duties, or not?

There must be others on here (be they nannies, employers of nannies) who have views on what is, and isn't nursery duties. Please, please do post your views.

I class nursery duties to be things like:

Care of childrens clothing and toys (including any cleaning or repairs)

Keeping rooms clean and tidy - including changing beds

Childrens laundry and ironing

Shopping for food and preparing meals

Clearing up home after messy activities and general mess created through play

General care and cleaning of child related equiptment, eg highchairs, car seats etc

It's quite difficult to define a list i think, as every family is so different.

I would say nursery duties have to relate directly to the children. My list would be:

Care of children's clothing, including washing, ironing and putting away. Polishing shoes. Organising wardrobes. Buying new clothes/school uniforms. Basic repairs and sewing in labels.

Care of children's rooms, including hoovering/sweeping playroom and bedroom floors. Organising and cleaning toys and books, and basic repairs (sewing up holes in teddy bears, sellotaping torn book pages). Keeping rooms tidy. Changing and washing children's bed linen.

Cooking healthy meals from scratch. Could include cooking extra and freezing. Making up bottles of milk, and sterilising bottles. Cleaning and tidying kitchen after cooking/meals.

I also think buying presents for birthday parties, or odd items like dummies, milk and bread for the day, is reasonable. It's reasonable to expect the nanny to be in charge of administration for the child too (doctor/dentist appointments, writing thank you letters, ensuring permission slips for school trips are signed).

Things like parents laundry, changing parents beds, cleaning/tidy rooms not used by children, full family shopping, organising/managing tradesmen or other staff, cleaning windows, gardening, pet care or dog walking, cooking for parents, running errands for parents, heavy cleaning are not "nursery duties" but some nannies may be happy to do some tasks, or could be employed as nanny/housekeepers.

And of course cleaning/tidying up after themseleves and children in the course of the day.

I must say though that nothing irritates me more than having to wash up pots/pans used by parents the night before, before being able to start on children's lunch

rahrah, i wouldnt wash the pans, just leave in pile by sink

nick - see your point regards filter, i have defluffed filters and changed water container in tumble dryer when full,with out a 2nd thought - are there really nannies who are THAT petty not to do it as it wouldnt comeunder nursery duties [hmmm]

Rachel's list is great!

Not at all nursery duties, but would you ask your nanny to receive the weekly grocery shop if you order it on line? I find this really handy - I have a shopping list on the go and my nanny adds to it, then she accepts delivery of the shopping and the DCs help her to put it away. She buys meat from the butchers for the children to eat, anything special/extra they want for lunch, and the little things we run out of.

In terms of household maintenance, I would expect her to let me know if things need doing.

rarah has a very good list

yes happy to be in for the shopping and even put it away and as the children will be eating the meat from butcher, i wouldnt tech class that as a nursery duty,but it does involve the children dietry needs so happy to go and buy it

the list could be endless, and can def be very complicated in regards what a nanny will and wont do so it is very hard to define a list

guess it all depends on the nanny

It will always depend on the families needs and the what the nanny will do. However, I feel that my everyone giving their view as to what is and isn't nursery duties - we may be able to come up with a list of typical things, as I expect there will be similarities - such as children's laundry.

Doesn't it also depend on the age and stage of the children? My lovely nanny does all sorts of bits and pieces at home. Puts all the washing on, has a little tidy up generally, hoovers now and again. She can because she only has one 18mo to look after and frankly she's asleep for quite a bit of the day. If your nanny is looking after three toddlers then that's not a possibility.

If I was at home looking after my own 18mo, I'd flick the hoover round now and again too.

The idea of a prescribed list of what a nanny will and won't do would put me off the person in question. Although I would never ask a nanny to do any more than light household bits and bobs. certainly no drain cleaning.

I'd add in preparation for holidays - my stepsons' nanny does a lot of packing of suitcases, which includes trying on sessions of summer clothes and letting us know how many pairs of shorts, t-shirts etc they can still fit into. I think it's quite a big burden in families who travel a lot.

I've never done a list of duties

I suppose our nanny makes sure the kids are fed and watered and looked after and that any mess they make (or she makes, by say, cooking) has been tidied up.

Other than that, I wouldn't expect her to do any other cleaning or washing. Not her job imo. But mine are 6 and 7 so most of her job involves taking them out or arranging play dates.

Also, we give her a kitty at the beginning of each week so that she can get any other food (in case neither dh nor I have noticed we are running out of something) and take them out and about.

I also tend to think that as I'm trusting her with my children, I am happy to go with the flow on the other stuff (but we are a ludicrously disorganised and happy go lucky sort of family so the nanny appears amazingly efficient and super organised to us!). Also, as someone else pointed out, it's a bit easier as mine are older now.

Ok it was me that cleaned out the drains (LOL) and another bloomin mouse this morning . But hey I love my boss she is fab