Nannies: market rates (bit controversial)

[Tanzie]

Having read on another thread ("Paying Nannies when sick") gripes from UK nannies about jobs going to girls from accession countries who will work for less, (and do more in the way of housework), is this not just pushing the market rate down for qualified/experienced nannies?

I am not in UK, but I would look at it as providing more affordable childcare, provided you can find someone trustworthy and reliable. I lived in UK briefly about 4 years ago and a nanny friend of mine was earning GBP 25,000 and got a flat thrown in with it. This is more than I was earning at the time and could never have afforded this sort of money for someone to look after my children.

I am not suggesting slave labour from Central European girls, or paying them an au pair's "pocket money" for what is essentially a nanny job, but paying them a reasonable wage and providing free accommodation means that a lot of people, who could not afford a nanny or nursery fees, will probably be able to get back to work.

Of course, there will always be those who want a Norland nanny and can afford one, but it seems to me that your average Mum would welcome these Central Europeans with open arms...

I'll run and hide now...

Uwilla - I never said it is different!

Mud said that she works harder on the days she's at home than the nanny does when she's looking after the children. I was merely pointing out that the reason for that is that Mud is doing some of the chores that the nanny has to do when she gets home, during the time that she is looking after the children. So whilst her day is busier, the things she has done during the day still have to be done by the nanny during the evening. So overall the nanny has the same workload wrt those days!

that is of course Soapbox, presuming the nanny has children to look after and tidy up after when she gets home as WELL as doing the housework of which there's never much if there's no-one in the house

Uwilla - you would be surprised at how much of my life's necessities I can squeeze into my lunch hour

Give me an internet connection and I can organise most things - shopping, meal planning, present buying, holiday booking, dinner reservations, theatre tickets etc etc

I can also nip out for an hour or so to see friends for lunch, go shopping and so on!

Luckily neither of the nannies I've employed have ever used the internet but you are right I did let them do the odd errand on my time - but shopping etc was not allowed unless it was for stuff for the children!

Soapbox,
"So the nanny works all day and then has to do all her own stuff,"

I'm just saying she can usually do some of it whilst at work, whereas most jobs would not allow that. Granted she can't clean her kitchen while she is sitting in my house. But, if my tddler is sleeping, she can pay her bills, or when my toddler wakes up, she can run by the chemist to get her prescription filled (so long as they don't have some other scheduled activity to attend).

Gwen - most working parents get home at a time when children are on the wind down for bed IME, so the mess making capability is quite limited in that time!

On that basis I'm assuming that both nanny and parents only have adult based messes to tidy up!

God this is getting ridiculous - the hair splitting is getting to me

We all work bloody hard - nannies included - why do we have to compete as to who works the hardest? The question really is about what value we place on that work and I was trying to say that if we don't value it when done by a nanny how can we value it when done by the parents???

Speaking of squeezing life's necessities into lunch, I am now off to swap some girl baby clothes for boy ones. (Friend just had ababy girl. I shall soon have a boy. I already have a girl, and she already has a boy... so we are doing a clothes swap)

Be back later.... don't talk too much in my absense!

Issymum - RL????? What's that

Issymum - I worked damned hard to make sure I have time for lounging around drinking G&Ts on the sofa in the evening

I work... not I worked!

I know but there is something very soothing about that first sip of a really cold, zingy G&T...

God forget shopping in my lunch hour - where's the nearest pub

Can't argue with that, Soapbox. There's nothing like a G&T, is there? (staring at the booze shelf, tempted - but resistant).

Assuming that this thread has more-or-less run its course, can we all agree that domestic help is really a matter for the individual family and those she looks to employ.

Here are my opinions in a nutshell:

Different combinations of helper(s) (nanny plus cleaner, nanny-housekeeper, au pair) are appropriate at different stages for the family (a family with mostly babies/toddlers having very different needs to a family with pre-teens, and a family with one child very different from a larger family).

The first dibs on a nanny's time is direct childcare, followed by children's cleaning, with family cleaning a distant third. But exposure to a clean & tidy ethic is important to children, so there is no place for demarcation disputes.

The national origin is not so important as the personal attributes of the helper, taking into account education, training, language competence, driver etc. Hiring a foreign worker brings both plusses and minuses compared to a homegrown nanny.

Domestic help is highly subject to market rules - supply/demand etc., and EU workers are just as entitled to apply for jobs in this country as UK citizens.

Oh, and that mothers know best!

own up 'Guest 1'

Was about to ask who Guest1 was - then jollied over to NJ to see if there was any updates on the MN thread (guess they're all working). PMSL at 'guest1'.............anyone going to own up?

I thought it might be you Gwenick!

Link, please ladies!

here

I must say, Guest1 is very discerning . Not me, btw. I wouldn't troll on their board out of priciple.

I wish! I'd love to be the first to do something like that! I've just had to look up the word 'riled' to see what it means - I am English honestly!

noooooooooooooo!

Maybe that's a clue. Is riled an Americanism (I'm "bilingual" and can't always tell ). My guess, in that case, would be our resident wise old owl!

no - its english!

Maybe that's a clue. Is riled an Americanism (I'm "bilingual" and can't always tell ). My guess, in that case, would be our resident wise old owl!