Need advice - nanny situation

Hi all,
I am a bit conflicted about how to handle my current situation:
We just started with a new nanny to care for our 2 yr old DS and we LOVE her. She is amazing and we feel lucky to have found her. DS loves her too! She watches him three days a week (my mom does other two). I am a FTWM. She has been with us for about 4 months now.

That being said - starting in September DS will be going to preschool 3 mornings a week. Our nanny will still come to our house at the same time (early - 6:45 am) and get him up and ready for school. She will drop him off and pick him up, then she will be with him the rest of the day until 4pm. So my question is...

Do we pay her for the time he is in school? We pay her by the hour. After the time it takes to drop off/pick up, it is about two hours a day, so 6 a week. I would not want her to go home because she lives about 25 minutes from us and I would want her near by in case of emergency. So - I feel like I can't ask her not to go home and NOT pay her - but she will have two hours on her hands...

My other question is - can I ask her to do some more housework/run errands during that time (if we are paying her)? I feel a bit weird asking since we hired her to care for our son, not clean and run errands...

I want to make sure she is comfortable and stays with us since we are TTC #2 and will definitely need her in the (hopefully) near future!

Any advice would be appreciated...thanks in advance!!

Re: Need advice - nanny situation

I think it's time to open the dialog with your nanny. I'd ask her how she wants to handle the 2.5 hours she has "off". Technically, she's on call having started early but ask her if during her time off would she mind running errands?

I wouldn't want her to be "off" because a kid who hasn't been in daycare will be exposed to new germs & you may wind up with him home sick.

I think it's fine to ask her to do light housekeeping or run errands if she's ok with that. I see no reason why she can't throw a load of the kid's (not yours!) clothes in the laundry & switch the wash.

Need advice - nanny situation

Message edited 8/5/2012 9:43:51 PM.

Re: Need advice - nanny situation

I agree that you should pay her for the time and see if she is amenable to doing some household duties for those two hours.

My sister took care of my older DD and we were in a similar situation where she had several hours free while DD was in class. We continued to pay her and (maybe because she is my sister) I let her do whatever she wanted with the extra time. But if she wasn't my sister I would have asked her to help keep our apartment tidy.

Thinking about it another way, it is similar to when your DS naps. Technically during nap time she isn't doing anything yet you still pay her. I think preschool should be treated the same way because you want her to block off her time for you.

Re: Need advice - nanny situation

I was a nanny for 2 years. When the older 2 were in school I was still paid the same because if they were ever sick and had to stay home it was me taking care of them, if they forgot their homework, their lunch, their instrument, I would take it to school, half days, days off, drs appointments, all on me. So even though most of the time I had the time to myself, he couldn't afford not to keep paying me because he needed me for those instances and if he didn't pay me then I wouldn't be able to keep the job because I needed full time pay. I took care of the kids wash, folded it and put it away, the dishes, and basically cleaned the whole house. I always went above and beyond what was asked of me because I am obsessive with keeping clean lol.

Re: Need advice - nanny situation

I have a similar situation. I will be paying for the hours they are at pre-k and asking for some extra work to be done around the house

Need advice - nanny situation

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate the advice. I just wanted to make sure I was being reasonable in what I asked since we really do love her! As it is, she keeps our house neat and does DS's laundry and always empties our dishwasher/clears the sink. She is so great, I didn't want to ask too much, but I think I will mention doing errands and any other light housework we might need. Thanks :)

Re: Need advice - nanny situation

My friend is a nanny to two school aged children. She gets paid for the time they are in school. It wouldn't financially be worth it to her to only get paid for the time in the mornings ( gets them dressed, feeds them, drops them off) then when she picks them up, does home work with them, feeds them dinner.

She is still on call. If one of the kids gets sick and needs to be picked up early she goes, if there is a half day she needs to be available. They don't have her do any cleaning but sometimes she will run earrands for them.
She also drives the kids to after school activities, play dates, and does a lot with them in the summer. Movies, water parks, etc.

Need advice - nanny situation

I would pay the six hours, or discuss with her splitting the difference and paying her half price for the time she is "on call."