Nanny duties

[emmerdale]

I am new to this game and need some guidance. I am going to employ a nanny because I am unable to find suitable chiildminding facilities within my area. My four children are of school going age and I made my decision for various reasons but mainly that they could be taken care of in their own home which I think would be important to them during school holidays and also there is less pressure on me to have them up and out during school holidays when they don't have to be up so early.

This is where my dilemma, if you will, comes in. I need a full time nanny for times such as school holidays, days off etc... During term the earliest my children will be home is 2.30pm and nanny should be busy from this time until I get home at 5.30ish with homework, getting dinner for the children and activities.

So Nanny will be there from 9.00am to 2.30pm (or so I am thinking) without any charges. Childrens rooms are always tidied by myself in the morning, playroom is generally tidy too, kitchen is left clean. A force of habit, if you will.

So what can I reasonably ask Nanny to do during those hours. I know that the main scope is to keep childrens areas clean and tidy but what constitutes the childrens areas - is it all areas used by them? They obviously use the kitchen for homework, meals ect..., the under stairs loo is used by them, plus the sitting room and playroom. So would it be reasonable to ask Nanny for instance to keep kitchen floor clean as in wash it, to wash the under stairs bathroom floor, to dust the sitting room, to hoover the house ect...

The suggested contract by the Agency includes Light Housekeeping duties.

Would like to know what other Nanny's would constitute as Light Housekeeping duties and what would be unreasonable to request.

Any guidance would be very much appreciated - thank you.

Emmerdale, you just might not find so many nannies posting here. You would probably get a wide range of answers if you posted on nannyjob.co.uk - but be prepared for quite a lot of different points of view. You may have tried that already?!

Anyway, as a nanny employer & as rule of thumb, I'd say that Light Housekeeping means no elbow grease - so no bathroom cleaning, floor washing, oven scrubbing, ironing or hoovering (except hoovering of children's bedrooms/playroom, as that comes under "nursery duties"). But dusting, receiving grocery deliveries, supervising windowcleaners, shoving washing in the machine and then in the dryer - those should be OK - depending on the person of course.

And yes, nannies do vary enormously - as somebody sensibly said to me "they come in all shapes and sizes" - and if both sides respect and like each other, & are happy to put themselves out a bit for the other - then you'll get much more done for you, because your nanny won't feel taken advantage of. I think a lot of nannies who are territorial about their duties have been burnt in the past. You should get a good sense of where they're at if you're upfront in the interviews.

PS to get the benefit of childcare vouchers you don't need someone already qualified, you just need someone prepared to do the relevant qualification courses, which are not a big investment - have a look at the SureStart website.

hi there!

Im a nanny with 5 yezars experience my duties inclued getting children washed, dressed and have breakfast walk them to school. but baby to bed for an hour, during this time i will empty and reload the dishwasher, clean around the kitchen ie wipr the surfaces and table, once baby is awake we go to baby class, tumble tots and swimming depends what day we are on! come home give baby lunch but her back to bed, i will them do the childrens washing ironing cleaning of rooms takes about 2 hours in total then walk up to school then go to after school clubd ie ballet, swimming, tennis then get home cook tea bath children. and in to pjs then my day is over!!

As you want to know about light housework, i clean up the kitchen if the floor is dirty i will hoover it i do that that 3 days a week as they have slate floor so it sows everything. i will hoover the hall as it is in the middle from the kicten to the play room i have no problems with this at all and i cant understand why some nannys do! esp when they have older charges who are at school during the day the only thing that does get to me a little bit is the fact i seem to be in my car for alot of the time during the week! this week has been fab as it was half term we took each day as it came we didnt have to rush to get out in the mornings we did lots of play activitys but i must admit none of my jobs have been done!! but my boss understands this at is it the school hols so the children will come first all the time

I was a nanny for 3 school age children. 2 of whom were in fulltime school and the other little one in nursery 5 mornings a week (till 12:20)
I got them up in the morning, ready for school, off to school then did various things. Mondays was usually groceries (round the corner from school) Tuesdays I went to the Library for ME and also dropped off and picked up parents drycleaning wich was 2 shops down. Wed to Fri fater I had finished any chores (childrens laundry, cooking for the children, cleaning the childrens rooms/playroom etc was MY mornings during which I went to my ice skating class, studied at home etc When I collected the youngest from school we would go home to a cooked lunch (which I would have cooked sometime during the morning) then she would have a nap. Afterwards we would walk down to the bus stop to collect the older 2 and then we would do homework, creative activities, outings etc
I regard myself as rofessional nanny even though I don't have a NNEB I do have a nanny certificate from my home country and a qualified Maternity nurse. I don't do cleaning unless it is related to the children (so I have no problem cleaning the children's bathroom or wiping down the kitchen tables, unloading the dishwasher etc)

Of course, if the childrne were sick, they were at home and my personal activities went to the end of the list because I have to attend to the children whom I care for very much. SOme days the chores etc went out of the window because of illness, very busy day etc. The children come first.
HTH

Hi,

I know it's rather late in the day but only just found this site. I'm a nanny and have been for almost 19 years (where does the time go?) I'm not qualified as such, have done courses but not reckonized (sp?) as qualifications now.

I think that the most important thing about being a nanny is feeling as part of the family, and there being a bit of give and take, my bosses are fantastic, I look after 2 and half year old twin boys, if I feel that the sitting room needs hoovering (not used by the boys except as a thoroughfare) then I will hoover it, if the boys bath needs cleaning, I'll clean it, if the kitchen floor needs washing it'll be washed (even down on hands and knees with scrubbing brush occasionally when the boys were crawling!)They have a cleaner who comes in on a Friday. If there is dry-cleaning to drop off/collect and I am going that way I'll do it, but I am not expected to do these things, and generally bosses express their gratitude. I have done this with all my employers.

If my employer comes home early she generally lets me go home early. I have 4 weeks stated holiday in my contract but have had almost 6 in both years that I have been here and haven't been asked to do any chores while they are away (unlike some nannies I know!). They are very generous when it comes to Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries (starting date) and make me feel very appeciated and so I am happy to do things to help out.

I think the most important thing is to ask your nanny if she is prepared to do these jobs you would like to be done and how often, and if she is, write them into the contract, but don't over fill the hours when the children are a school, after all, in an office, you generally get coffee breaks and lunch breaks, as nannies we don't get those and so any time that we can have a liitle "me" time is good.

My twins start school in Sept, only three mornings a week (too many!!) and I will do washing, ironing and cook meals for the freezer (I also only cook the boys fresh, organic food, they do have nuggets and fish fingers but are home made) on Monday, on Friday I will do the family supermarket shop (which I currently do on Friday mornings) and Wednesday will be a morning off and I can spend that how I wish, be it in the gym, or doing other jobs for the family or in bed (most likely!).

Flexibility on both sides is very important. I've rambled on enough now but if you want to ask any questions, please feel free.