What duties does your nanny have?

[Gangle]

We have a nanny share for DS, 17 months based 3 days at our house and 3 days at the other family's house - the other child is also 17 months. Our nanny works 8.30-6.30 Monday to Friday and is paid £500 per week net. She looks after both babies very well and cooks one meal a day. She occasionally cooks the second although most days either I or the other family will cook the second meal the night before. She also doesn't do any laundry. We have had numerous issues about her not cleaning up after herself - just want the house left as she found it with dirty nappies put in the bin, washing up not done properly, food all over the floor, surfaces grubby, toys put away etc. I usually spend about 40 minutes each every cleaning up after her. Should she be doing all these things plus maybe the second meal and some laundry. Just feel that we are paying a lot but not getting that much in return, although of course the fact that the babies are happy and well cared for is most important. Have raised these issues with her before (gently) and they improve for a few days then revert back in a few days. Am I asking too much?

sorry, meant 2 dayss at the other house!

you are not expecting too much at all.

As a nanny, i would never leave a house dirty. I have just finished with triplets and in my ref, the parents put a bit about leaving everywhere immaculate!

I can't stand a dirty house....only lazy people leave a house dirty. What does she do when the babies are sleeping?

Not at all. Our nanny does all washing up, hangs up our laundry and generally cleans up all mess. Okay so there are toys out when I get home but that's to be expected and it's never dirty. Turns out that paint had been split last week that I had no idea about as it was all cleaned away.

I have always found that nannies tolerate a much messier house during the day than I do. But when their shift ends, the place is tidied up, apart from toys actually in use. A good nanny would get her charges to do the tidying up, IME.

I wouldn't be distracted by the nanny-share element of it, certainly now they are old enough to join in the tidying up.

You are not expecting too much. Plenty of nannies out there would be happy to have a job for £500 net per week (35k gross annually). And they will clean up for it.

My nanny works a 59 hour week and is paid 560 net a week. So slightly less than your nanny's hourly rate. I have two DC 4 and 18 months and will be going back to work in January (off on maternity leave soon) after the birth of DC3 who will then be 14 weeks. She does ALL the childrens ironing, cooking, tidying rooms, tidying toys, keeping toy bits together etc etc etc. the house is immaculate when she leaves. She was babysitting last night and even did some of myironing (unasked)

I think she is exceptional but she is pretty well paid for it too.

As a nanny myself i would never leave the house in a mess at the end of the day but i am a very clean and tidy person anyway!
I brush and mop the floor! load/empty dishwasher, childrens washing and tidying of childerns toys etc.
Me and the parents share the cooking!
I would bring the issues up again with her

i remember your posting about your untidy nanny before

so things havnt improved with her cleaning up then?

you are going to have to be firm about it and have a chat and if need be give her a verbal warning if it still happens
i would make her tidy up and if need be leave 40mins later - unpaid of course!!

i leave the house as i expect to find it

if you said at the interview there wasnt any laundry then i think its a bit cheeky to ask her to do it now

if she does start doing it, make sure you also do some or she will be doing 7days laundry in 3 - which isnt fair for a nanny that isnt in the house all week

Leaving the house in a mess is a big no no if it's all the time. I have sometimes left toys in the playroom as with 2 17 month old the minute you put something back they have it out again; generally though I arrange it so we go out for the last part of the afternoon for a walk so it is normally tidy.

In terms of food there is never anything left over dishes are always in dishwasher and if dishwasher is full I run it and put everything away. I only work with this family for 2 days a week so they don't ask me to do the laundry as they was the DCs in with theirs but of there is a wet load in the machine I have nothing against putting it on the line.

In terms of cooking I think this is a bit tricker given their ages as it is quite difficult managing two 17 month olds whilst cooking something. Obviously pasta and veg would be a doddle but I have had aprents ask me to cook a roast when looking after their DC which to me feels odd as surely it's better for me to be spending my time playing with the DC?

If the children go for a nap would a good comprimise be for nanny to batch cook and freeze non fussy food? Cottage pie, lasagne etc? You could obviously review this when the children get older and need less supervision.

Also on the laudry front could she realistically do you DC washing as in would there be enough to make up the load?

Also you have to remember that she would be doing 2 ses of domestic chores so that'd be double the time spent not with your child compared to a non-share. If you're fine with that then fair enough but I often find parents don't think through the logistics (not saying you don't but generally).

HTH

sorry about typos have hurt my writst and fingers on my right arm so am one finger typing whilst lying in bed!

My duties:
Cooking all meals
Cleaning the DC's rooms (not the eldests)
Cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms
Mopping and vacuuming the floors
Doing all the DC's washing
Driving them everywhere
Shopping
Running errands (and not always DC related)
Going to school functions etc
Getting them up
Putting them to bed
Going to appointments with them
Doing things the parents should be doing
Organising parties, playdates etc
Working (and being on call) from 7am to 11pm every week day

so I think your nanny is getting off pretty easy and she should buck up and do some work!

You definitely shouldn't put up with it!
She should tidy up after herself and your son, do his washing, ironing and keep his room clean with toys organised.
I really think you should warn her formally about this. I am sure there are a lot of other qualified nannies who would be happy to replace her!!

LouLovesAeroplaneJelly - I hope you get paid well for that!

I dont do cleaning

I DO do:
Childrens washing. Now i only work 3 days a week i will do a maximum of 3 loads a week (normally 2 loads in a week)... if you want me to do all their washing then pay me full time is how i look at it
Leave kitchen / playroom as i find them
Ensure the CHILDREN (age 3 & 6) tidy their own playroom / bedrooms on the day the cleaner arrives.
My bosses often leave LOTS of their dinner stuff from the night before in the kitchen... quite often its still their when i leave . The kitchen is always cleaner when i leave then when i arrive though.
Load / turn on / unload dishwasher whenever it happens to need doing
if the kitchen floor is exceptionally crumby i will sweep it... BUT i have a 3 year old who just LOVES using the mini hoover, so normally he volunteers before it gets that bad
I cook all meals from scratch and we (my bosses, the children and me) take great pleasure tending to our vegtabke patch so lots of our fresh veg i will pick direct from garden and use immediatly. When im cooking i normally ask my bosses if they would like what ever it is im cooking and if they do i am happy to make enough for them as well.
I do lots and lots of baking. (we do NOT have ANY shop bought cakes / biscuits / "naughty stuff" in the cupboards at all, but i try quite hard to ensure 'the tin' always has something yummy and home baked in it , MB normally bakes something at the weekend too) Also if for example my bosses are having friends round / a party etc at the weekend they know they can ask me to bake a cake or something especially for it and i will

Could you suggest that she cooks extra meals for the freezer, then she will have cooking-free days and can use the extra time for tidying/cleaning?