How old were your kids when you stopped asking the nanny to fill out a nanny diary?

[AtheneNoctua]

I am currently interviewing and its a question on my long questionnaire. And I'm just wondering if at age 4 and 6 it is perhaps a bit OTT to expect a nanny diary... On the other hand, I do still like to sit down and have a read about what they did during the day/week.

So, I'm just wondering when other people dropped the nanny diary.

we still have a house diary at age 8 and 10.I find its useful for reminders and notes and shopping etc.

My charges are 2, 4 and 6 and I don't keep track of what they ate or where we went in the diary - I would think it a little odd if the mum asked me to tbh. I mention to the parents in the morning if I have anything particular planned, and might say a bit about our day in the evening if there's time.

I have a nanny diary but usually we just use it to write notes to each other of the "James is going to Bill's house for Tea"/"Carol phoned"/"Please use the chicken in the fridge, it's near it's date" variety. I write down anything important that happened, or if I gave any medicine, and I keep a note of all expenses in there.

Hi,

I currently look after 3 kids (5,7,9) and we don't do a diary - I wouldn't have the time. I am part time though so I am only there when the children are - I don't come in to do nursery duties etc.

I'd say yours are old enough to begin to tell you themselves the things they particularly enjoyed. I often say to my five year old, "tell Mummy what we did today", if I think it's particularly interesting. If it's anything about bad behaviour we discuss it together when their parents come home too. So I'd say - "OK Mb today C had some particularly bad behaviour, she did X Y and Z. Now C, can we talk about how that was inappropriate, how that needs to change."

Anything ongoing I tend to email my MB about - as she does me. Writing that sort of thing out would take me too long!

Well, there's a mixed bag of reviews if ever I saw one.

One of the things I like about the nanny diary is that I can read it on my time and not try to squeeze in conversation whilst nanny is trying to clock off. I like to sit down on the weekend and catch up with who they saw, what they did, etc. during the week.

I'm a nanny with children aged between 3 and 7 and i fill one in for the family to read because they asked me too

Hmmm-when the children can talk and tell you about their day?
On the other hand a communication diary can be great if you don't see your nanny at one or the other handover and also to put in appointments/special playdates/stuff needed for school etc? Does your nanny take a digital camera when they go on trips ? This can be a nice way for you to see what they have been up to-the children could even get involved in making a scrapbook diary thing either on paper or online.

I'm not a nanny, but I childmind. The kids are 2 and 4, old enough to say what they did during the day, but I still do a diary for the mum. Sometimes you ask a child what they did and they say "nothing", I can understand as a parent that it would be nice to have a log of what they have done/ate etc. I don't think it's at all unreasonable or "odd" to have a diary filled out every day, they're your children and you of course want to know whats been going on with them. I think it awful for a nanny to maybe mention, if they have time, to the parents what their children have done.

You ask for the diary if you want one x

I've only been asked to fill in a nanny diary in one job. It kind of fizzled out when the mum went back to work after pg no 2, I had more than enough to do with a 2 1/2 year old and 14 week old twins as it was! I did note down when the twins had milk and how much etc though when they were tiny, so that we could keep an eye on how much they were having in 24 hours.

Agree that at 4 and 6 they're old enough to tell you about their day/week themselves. I'm sure it's lovely to have it to read at your leisure, but would you not rather your nanny spent the time playing with your kids than writing stuff down?

i dont do a diary as mb didnt want one - but we text/email alot to each others

if we go out i send a piccy of them doing xxx to mb/db balckberry so they can see - which they love and know really appreicate, and then print piccys off

but did in last job - i would write what we did, what they ate, when they slept - just basic stuff

but when they are school - its the same routine, so mon french, tue gym, fri swim and can be a bit boring to keep writing the same thing each week

main thing is athene - if YOU want one then get nanny to do one x

our nanny diary dwindled as the children got older and went to school - once the youngest was in preschool the things we wanted to know most about her day was stuff only she could tell us - and I'd rather hear it from her than via the nanny's interpretation.

as others have said, we still had a diary for appointments and messages but other comments were only put in when there was something specific to note.

when dd3 went to full time school we changed our nanny arrangements so never asked the new nanny to complete the diary. The 9 diaries we have are among our most treasured possessions though - my absolute favourite entry being the nanny's description of dd1's day when dd2 was born. My children are already fighting over who gets ownership of the diaries when I die!

my charges are now nearly 4 and 6.5 years

i still fill in a nanny diary, but much less detail than before....

i use the nanny diary as a communication tool between me and bosses... all the names / phone numbers / websites etc of our toddler groups / swimming lessons /activities etc are in there as are names & adresses of charges friends and their nannies names and numbers etc

i use the diary to write (in advance) what we plan to do.. (then if there is a problem and my phone had no signal my bosses could use the diary to find a contact number etc)

also use it to record my expenses and mileage... also what food i fed the children.

typical day might read
"we went to out music group (50p car park) (£3 entry) and had great fun with our friends tom dick and harry.... went back to Toms house for lunch (cheese sandwich and salad bits + fruit & yogurt) and played there for the afternoon. Collected eldest from school. Had chicken curry and rice for tea, banana custard for pudding (40 miles)"