For those of you with a Mother's Help.....

[TheRealMrsJohnSimm]

Am a bit confused about the exact role of a Mother's Help (altho of course the title itself would appear self-explanatory!) but am assuming you do not leave them in sole charge?

Also, how do you divide housework/childcare between the two of you?

a mothers help will do most things as long as it has been agreed in advance.

One of my first jobs was as a mothers help for a 6 week old baby.

The mum taught at home so was around if i needed her. I would take the baby (and dog)out for nice walks, do the ironing, help prepare the evening meal, vacuum downstairs and bath & feed the baby.

Generally they only do light housework though - they are not cheap cleaners!

You could ask her to run errands, pick up shopping, childcare (depending on level of experience) and household tasks.

Thanks for responding

The term "light housework" confuses me! Does this mean not expecting her to clean the house from top to bottom in one go? Would sharing the weekly household clean be acceptable? (assuming I do stuff like bathrooms which I think unless you are a cleaner, it is a bit rough to be asked to do!)

Basically, our nanny has agreed to do 3 days sole charge and 2 days Mother's Help (I want to be more hands on with the boys on those days). I need the help with the housework more because I am recovering from a back injury. I respect her as a professional and would hate to cause offense (or lose her) by asking her to do things generally agreed to be unacceptable to nannies in general!!

We are talking about this but would love to hear general opinions from others.

I have booked a doula who will do 'light housework', she has said that means tidying uo after the children, laundry inc ironing, general tidying if needed.

light housework means general cleaning including bathrooms, hoovering,mopping floors tidying and changing beds, folding washing, doing the kids washing but does not include cleaning the oven, cleaning the windows and any work in the garden.

I would class light housework as laundry, empty/fill dishwasher, tidy up, run round with hoover, ironing but prob no more then that.

danny b what would "heavy" housework be then ? lol

mrs simm i do similar,i work 2 days per week for a family as their nanny,and also on 2 other days i do a bit of mothers help work for them too

sometimes mum is there other times not,or working from the home office

i hoover,dust as needed,load and empty dishwasher,childrens laundry ,tidy,clean kitchen etc

you need to discuss with her what she is willing to do / what you need her to do.

just dont expect her to do anything you wouldnt / dont do yourself

I agree with wellbalanced with the light housework.
You need to agree between you both what is suitable.
If shes being a nanny 3 days shed do everything to do with the children sole charge and on the other 2 days where she is being mothers help im assuming shes agreeing to HELP YOU, with you there most of the time and generally working together.
Sit down and have a chat with her