Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

I am back to work FT. Starting in 3 weeks, we have a nanny/babysitter who will be coming to the house and watching DS for 2 full days (my mom watches him the other 3 days).

Does anyone here have their nanny/babysitter help them out with any "non-babysitting" things? If so, what do they help with?

I feel like I don't have time to get everything done and would like her to help me out with a few things when she is here (no heavy cleaning or anything like that) - namely, throwing in a load of DS's laundry, watering our plants outside, etc.

Obviously, I will discuss this with her before, but I wasn't sure what others do.

Re: Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

We agreed beforehand that she would do DS' laundry but she took it upon herself to do ours too. She also would prepare dinner occasionally but I never asked her to do that.

Re: Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

I think it depends on how much you are paying. My babysitter prepares Aiden's food, gets him dresses, takes him out to the backyard to play etc. I don't expect her to do more than watch and interact with him but I'm only paying 10 bucks and hour and it's a part-time job for her. If she were a full-time nanny getting paid vacation weeks and paid sick days and a good salary I would expect a few chores around the house to be added to her responsibilities.

Re: Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

Re: Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

Re: Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

I bring DD to the sitter, so no.

But, I know when I used to be a full-time sitter, I was never asked to do things like that. I mean, you can approach the situation and if it involves your DC, then I think it's okay (like his laundry). I wouldn't set my expectations too high though, they are sitters, not housekeepers, KWIM?

Re: Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

Thanks for your responses! To answer a few questions, she is going to get paid $14/hour and even though she is PT, she will get paid holidays (which sucks for us because she only works Mondays and Fridays - which are a lot of holiday!) and we are paying her for 2 weeks vacation (4 days per year since she only works for us 2 days per week). She is a nanny for another family and I know she cooks dinner for them. I have a cleaning woman who comes every week so it would never be anything like bathrooms!

Re: Another Nanny/Babysitter Question!

It all depends on the person and what you want done, arrange ahead of time and that person is willing to do.

When we hired our Nanny she agreed to do a light cleaning once a week -- basically what I would do -- kitchen counters, wipe down bathroom, vacuum and floors.

As the relationship progressed, she would start doing little things on her own -- my daughters laundry, emptying the dishwasher, watering plants, helping with dinner or making dinner some nights, our laundry sometimes, occasional food shopping (she has one of our cars), other errands, etc.

She always says she doesn't mind and has the time. We have tried to compensate her justly for all the help she provides and I usually try to make sure not to overload her. For example, if its cleaning day, I don't ask her to help with dinner or throw in a laundry.

We look at it as if she is helping take care of our whole family and it allows my husband and I to spend more quality time with our children because we are not also juggling the little things.

We were very lucky to find a wonderful person who my daughter loves who takes care of all of us. LIke I said, it all depends on who you find, etc.

Hope this helps!