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Original poster

Parents who take their nannies on holiday

123 replies

TheDullWitch · 30/08/2006 21:27

Noticed a lot of this on holiday. This writer seems to think it s a bad idea. I came across one mother who was moaning about hols with young kids, then I noticed next morning at breakfast she'd brought her Filipino nanny!

it's here

I kind of think it stops you being a proper family, however convenient.

OP posts:
morningpaper · 31/08/2006 09:56

Hunker are you just pushing the bananas through the bars of his cage?

CountessDracula · 31/08/2006 09:57

Nannies don't have to live with you though, ours doesn't and never has. She is more like a family friend I have know her since before dd was born.

I would have no probs with her coming on holiday but only to help with babysitting and the odd early morning after a late night. She could do her own thing a lot of the time.

CountessDracula · 31/08/2006 09:58

And YES of course dd loves her! She has been a big part of her life. I would be very upset if she didn't love her!

Gobbledigook · 31/08/2006 09:58

Well I guess if night time is an issue and you are sleep deprived then that's different. I still, personally, wouldn't have a nanny though, I'd just not go on holiday and put myself through the stress when they were at this stage and I'd stick to doing days out more locally instead.

Each to their own though of course (I thought the Eden Project was great!)

Joolstoo · 31/08/2006 09:59

sounds like some of you are asking for 'me' time. Now iirc there have been a few ding dongs on here about 'me' time?

lazycow · 31/08/2006 09:59

Well as ds gets older I enjoy spending time with him more and I have taken my niece and nephew (aged 4 and 6) on holiday before and found it fun though very tiring so I am actually looking forward to that age for holidays and would probably only use child clubs for a couple of hours a day if ds likes them so he can meet/play with other kids.

When we went on holiday when ds was 7 months old I'm afraid his routine did rule our holidy because this was the only way I could envisage getting any sleep at night and having a baby who wasn't constantly crying. I was in fact almost hysterically tired and found that dragging ds around and trying to get him to sleep in the pushchair was a nightmare.

So in the end we surrendered to his needs and I used the holiday creche for a few hours a day. I I made this coincide with his day naps so he slept in comfort and with supervision while dh and I got lunch/read etc. We only ate out as a family once as ds got so hysterical by 6pm when the restaurant opened it was not worth doing again.

Thus ds was asleep for the night by 5.30pm as he always was in those days and dh and I took it in shifts to eat our evening meal. If we had had an au pair/nanny this would have been much nicer.

tbh though if we had a nanny/au pair I might have been tempted to use her for more then just naps etc. I think when you are that tired/depressed it is easier not to do stuf with babies/kids as it is so much hard work.

I suppose what I am saying is it is easy to judge other people's decisions - We used a creche for a 7 month old breastfed baby but if we hadn't I have no doubt I would have gone mad on that holiday - looking back now I know that makes no sense - that is nontheless how I felt.

beetroot · 31/08/2006 09:59

my mate takes her nanny sometimes, she has 3 little ones and she just wants a bit of a break sometimes.

MrsFio · 31/08/2006 10:00

you want to try having a 7 year old who has never slept through
I bet most/majority of the mums on the special needs board would jump at the chance of a nanny on holiday with them and I dont see why anyone else should be deprived at that either in order to relax

Carmenere · 31/08/2006 10:00

Just thought I'd jump in and mention that I am off thisevening to the South of Italy for a childless free weekend.
I have just come back from a weeks holiday at home with my parents and one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much was because my family looked after dd lots of the time. She was happy, I was happy, they were happy.
If I could afford a nanny to bring on holiday, I probably would but I wouldn't treat her as a servant as that attitude is offensive to me.

I do a lot of travel for work, I enjoy the travel but it is still work. I'd imagine it is the same for a nanny. I agree holidays are a great opportunity for the family to spend time together but I also can recognise that a break from the day to day normal routine can be valuable for recharging the batteries.

Someone on here(cant remember who) once said that when you have children holidays are just washing up with a different view. well if you can afford to give yourself a break why wouldn't you.

Gobbledigook · 31/08/2006 10:01

On second thoughts, I guess if I had a nanny I could MN in peace and not go into the bathroom to find ds3 smearing shower gel all over the glass cubicle with his hands. Ho hum.

morningpaper · 31/08/2006 10:04

Don't worry GDG I went into the bathroom last week and found the baby eating Aqueous Cream.

Oh Lazycow you have just reminded me of the sheer misery of shift-eating in hotel dining rooms. I have done that a couple of times and it is all I can do not to cry into my dinner.

lazycow · 31/08/2006 10:18

Morningpaper

So pleased it was not just us though that you have to go through it too.

I did find myself in tears on the third night of me eating alone. I inadvertently sat at someone's reserved table and being asked to move table when I was sat all alone eating made me really upset for some reason (in fact I am crying now remembering it) and I had real trouble going back to eat alone after that.

On the whole as I said the holiday was OK though and better than I expected though a nanny would have made it better I believe.

Issymum · 31/08/2006 10:24

I was going to post on this thread, because we have taken a nanny on holiday with us, but Zippitippitoes will tell me off again for posting about having a nanny/being a lawyer. Sigh!

Jimjams2 · 31/08/2006 10:27

The only way we could go on a family holiday now (and until the younger 2 are old enough to help out considerably) would be to have some help with us. I think there's a huge difference bewtween taking help and some sort of slave though. So, as always, comes down to how the nanny is treated- as a human - ok in my boook, as a subhuman- well no.

CountessDracula · 31/08/2006 10:29

err what's wrong with that issy? Surely there are lots of lawyers with nannies on mn?

chocybickie · 31/08/2006 10:33

When we have gone on holiday we enjoyed spending the day together doing something different whether relaxing or not. But bedtime never changes. 8 o'clock at the latest.
That leaves us with some dull evenings. I would love to be able to go out for a drink with DP in the evenings but it's impossible. That's where my nanny would come in. If I had one, which I don't.

oliveoil · 31/08/2006 10:34

Was it you that flew on Concorde Issymum? Begone with you

x

batters · 31/08/2006 10:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

morningpaper · 31/08/2006 10:39

It's funny how Nannies are seen as something for the 'well off'.

I worked out the other day that a Nanny is actually £25 CHEAPER per day than my nursery costs for the two smalls!

MrsFio · 31/08/2006 10:44

nursery is far more expensive surely?

morningpaper · 31/08/2006 10:59

Yes nursery is £70 per day and a nanny would be £45 per day

But I send them to nursery so that they get some interaction with other children so I don't have to feel guilty about doing nothing apart from lounging around at home for the rest of the week

CountessDracula · 31/08/2006 11:00

£45 a day for a nanny? Where do you live?

Round here is £350 a week plus tax which works out lot more!

morningpaper · 31/08/2006 11:00

Rural somerset

MrsFio · 31/08/2006 11:01

gosh Cd will you employ me as your nanny

CountessDracula · 31/08/2006 11:01

only if you move to london - it's the going rate here

I have her p/t now as dd at nursery
And I give her a car to use all the time