Hellobee Boards

Our nanny has the keys to our apartment. Weather permitting, she takes our LO out to the park, playground, and drop-in sing-alongs. We don't provide food for her, she usually brings her breakfast and lunch. We don't expect her to do any housekeeping but she cleans LOs dishes and we've come home to no dirty dishes before, too. She organized LOs dresser drawers for us and will fold her laundry if I haven't gotten to it yet.

How old is your LO? Our LO has been with a nanny since she was 5 months old (we've had 3) and our nanny was allowed to take LO out since day 1. We don't want them cooped up in the house all the time.

@MenagerieMama: Yes, if you trust her to watch your child, you should trust her taking the baby outside for walks! It's good for both of them to get out of the house, say a morning or afternoon walk.

Our nanny doesn't drive LO anywhere (we live in a city) but I wouldn't be comfortable with that anyway.

Our nanny had keys and took LO on walks at least twice a day. WE didn't ask her to do any actual housework other than cleaning up after LO, but she frequently ran and emptied our dishwasher. I would suggest having her fill out a daily sheet that you provide, I made my own based on what I wanted to know. I also required that she be in constant contact with us via cell and I texted her at least once a day. If there is anything you DONT want her to do, like enter your master bedroom, run the washing machine, etc. then make sure you put it in writing and read it out loud together.

Ah, I just typed up a long response and the internet ate it! Darn. Here's the cliffsnotes version:

- I have a key to the house and the garage codes; I'm in and out so much, often when the parents aren't home so it's necessary in my case.
- They are always telling me to help myself to whatever food they have, but I generally bring my own
- I haven't been asked to do any housework, but I always leave the house cleaner than it was when I got there. Picking up toys, cleaning up kitchen, that sort of thing.
- I've been taking the kiddos out of the house since day 1. I drive them to lessons and classes, do school drop off and pick-up when necessary, go to playdates, go for walks, that sort of thing. We all feel cooped up if we stay inside all day.

Hope that helps a little!

ETA: You have a nanny cam, so I'm sure that will make you feel more comfortable, but I stay in contact with my boss all day through texting. She texts me to see how things are going, remind me about activities they have going on, and I send her pictures of the kids, that sort of thing. It's great to be able to reach her easily when I need something, and vice versa.

@MenagerieMama: unless it was agreed upon before hand, I wouldn't ask her to do any housework not related to your LO and cleaning up after herself.

To answer your other questions, my nanny has a key to the house and security codes. She can eat whatever we have in the house and we buy some drinks/snacks that we know she likes, but she mostly brings her own food. She's been able to take LO out for walks and activities since day 1, but I live in a very walkable area. She doesn't drive and I don't think I'd feel comfortable with someone driving LO around all day. We text a few times a day and I also have a notebook for her to write down Lo's food, naps, etc....

@MenagerieMama: I'd feel weird about that too! Then again, I am super weird about people washing my clothes. I only recently started letting DH do the laundry for this reason and I get freaked out when our nanny - who I love - has to touch our clean laundry when she's doing LO's stuff and I've accidently left ours in the machine. So yeah, I am a little weird about that

@MenagerieMama: We are in a nanny share with another infant, so a little different, but here's my experience anyway (LO is now 5 months old, nanny started when he was 3 months):
- We gave her a key and also showed her where the spare key(s) are in our house just in case.
- Our nanny brings her own lunch, but we tell her to help herself to leftovers, treats (Girl Scout cookies), or anything else. So far she hasn't taken us up on it that much but we offer anyway. I think providing food becomes a different situation once you have an LO eating regular food.
- We already use Baby Connect so she uses that to track his feedings & naps - extremely helpful & we can check in passively throughout the day to see whether he's eating/napping well. Our nanny is really great about filling us in about his mood, what they did throughout the day, etc., informally, but as he gets older, I will probably make a little sheet.
- She cleans up the bottles and any other baby-related messes (if he has a blowout, she usually washes out the stain/pretreats) but we haven't asked her to do anything else. She always washes the dishes she uses instead of putting them in the dishwasher, which is really sweet but not necessary. We have a housekeeper every other week so no need for us to ask her to do most chores, and I'm a freak about laundry and I like to do it myself.
- She's been taking our LO on walks from the beginning, both in our stroller and using a carrier.
- We typed up a list of general info just for her to have as a reference (important numbers, etc.).
- Our ped has a form for proxy care if our LO needed medical attention and we needed the nanny to take him. Pretty unlikely situation but we made sure to have her sign that form and dropped it off with our ped.

In my experience as a nanny, I always had a key unless one of the parents worked from home. And then if they had to leave they left a key so we could go out.

I never ate their food. Some offered, some didn't, but it seemed super weird to me. The only exception was with one family that had a horribly ill-behaved dog that occasionally managed to get my food even when I left it somewhere she shouldn't have been able to get to. Also, one family occasionally ate MY food, if I had leftovers that I left in the fridge. Don't do that! I was left with no lunch if I'd planned to eat what I left.

Also, I would agree that "light housekeeping" to me means cleaning up after the kid(s). I did all of the LO's dishes, laundry, etc, but no other housework. I wasn't paid a ton, and I considered the down time I had during naps as part of that. If they wanted me to clean, they could pay me to be their cleaning lady as well.

I would agree that she should be able to take LO out immediately. I'm not a big going out person, and would be happy to sit at home all day, but I still always made an effort to go on walks and to parks.

@MenagerieMama: No advice on the nanny but just wanted to chime in on the cloth diapers my daycare lady has NEVER snapped our diapers correctly and she believes her way is better, she has more leaks and such but ehh its not that big of a deal.

Do I give her a key to the house? Yes.
Provide food for her? No, but we tell her she's welcome to whatever we have. She always brings her own food.
What light housework is appropriate? I only feel comfortable asking her to do things that relate to LO, like his dishes or picking up his toys. When he was in cloth diapers, she would fold those, too, as long as we washed them. She also sometimes folds his clothes.
When is it okay for her to take LO on walks outside? She started when he was 4.5 months old, so she took him on walks right away. They usually walk every day before lunch.
Anything you wish you had known or done differently? Not really! I kind of wish I got more details about what they do each day, but now that Liam is talking more, he can share that. I used to have her write down all his milk intake and same for food when he first started solids. Now, I don't, but I kind of wish I had a little report like what daycares give out.

I used to nanny, and would always specify during interviews that it was for a nanny position, not nanny/housekeeper. I would always clean up after the child (bottles, dishes, laundry, toy pick up) but would not clean after the family.

Most people gave me a key to their home so I could go on walks with the baby.