I have had nannies for 12 years now from all parts of the world and of all nationalities - the good, the bad and the ugly!
We usually end up recruiting Slovak or Czech nannies who we find to be a very good fit in our family.
This time around ( our previuos nanny had to leave suddenly as her mother needed an operation at home) we interviewed a phillipino lady and took her on. I am wondering what to do as i don't feel its such a good fit.
Her english at interview was ok - she seemed to undersatnd what was said and she appeared friendly and personable. I have to say ours is not the trad nanny job as I have 5 kids alhtough even youngest is now full day in nursery so support needed only at begiing and end of day and housework i nbetween. I chose this lady as she semed efficient iwht houseowrk and pleasant wiht kids.
After 10 days I am regretting my choice somewhat. She is a sweet person but incapable of using initiative or managing by herslef. For e.g. when she picks up my ds2 on his half day days i nschool ( which will peter out soon asn be full days) she will not book the taxi to take her home ( it is a half hour journey) as she feels nervous of speaking to the cab company . She does not seem to have great road sense. She cannot remember to bring home each child's bottle/coat etc if they forget. When she answers the phone and i speak to her from work to give her mesgages etc ( such as please chop salad for dinner etc) she seems as if she undersands then when i return she has not done oit and trasnpires she didn't udnersand.
I've aske her to keep a shopping list as we run out of things but this is beyond her organisational capablilities. She is also slow at oding the famil ywash and keeping things organised etc in the house.
I feel she is wrong for us but feel bad for her .
it is diffiuclt to communicate with her as she shows no feelings at all and evenin in the morning in respnse to my cheery "heelo how are you this moring" she is very flat an d baritone.
Also odd - when she babysits ( she lives in ) she stay sin her room in teh dark even from 8.00pm and lays in bed. her prerogativ to do what she wants etc but its odd. Other nannies tend to be on laptops/pohone/watch telly. Also she's half askeep which I don't like so early if I'm gong out. Lst night i asked her to listne out for dd1 to answer the door ( she was babysitting) and when I came home at 9.30pm I knocked at her door to find out whether dd was home yet and she was in bed in teh dark ( oh naked as well - she sometimes lets covers slip so I can see ) and she expressed suprise and thought dd was in teh house. I had explained carefully that dd would knock at about 9.30 and she shoudl answer door quickly ( dd gets quite nervous).As it turns out dd didn't get home till 10.00pm but its more the lack of undersanding/communication that worries me.
By now - after a week or so I develop a relationship with my nannies - chats over cups of tea/ anecdotes about kids/feedback / bugbears even but here ther's nothing.
Unsure whether to get rid or try for longer......