After quite the winter we got here in the east coast, I am sure a lot of people were looking forward to the hot days of summer! Taking the kids to the pond, the beach, picnics at sundown, trips to museums, zoos, amusement park… Nanny Life is Good!!!! What more could your nanny want?
The nanny life is good indeed! It is super awesome, actually. But, let’s step back a bit and see what can happen when summer comes:
1) Kids are off school and your nanny may be working more hours
While I believe many families and nannies do talk about this when first starting the job, I have encountered a few who don’t and it has happened to me in the past. Luckily, I did not have another job in the mornings and I was able to start working earlier during the summer but had this happened a few years later, when I took over another part-time position as a mother’s helper I wouldn’t be able to accommodate that unless it was agreed and discussed during the interview.
Here in Massachusetts, nannies (and any other worker, for that matter) are entitled to 1.5 pay for any hour after 40h/w. That means, you should be prepared and make sure you have those in your budget. Also, while nannies are known for working long hours while still maintaining a great smile, they also have the hardest time saying “no” and feel burned out after a couple of weeks, specially during hot summer days. While working 10 hours a day is very common for us, you may want to keep an eye out and to make sure your nanny is doing okay and not burning out. After all, your nanny’s health will impact the quality of care towards your children.
2) Your nanny is watching more kids
Some nannies would only care for the older siblings for a few hours after school but since summer is here and if they aren’t attending camp, they will be under her watch and responsibility and this can’t be dismissed. I have also seen parents who, in an attempt to “make it easy” they will set up play dates so the nanny doesn’t have to worry about them. Well, sorry to break the news, but nannies know play dates are far from “easy.” It is more responsibility, actually, even if the kids are older. The truth is, your nanny still needs to keep an eye on them, and chances are, her routine with the little one won’t be the same. Make sure you recognize that and I adjust her compensation to reflect the extra work.
3) Your nanny is driving more or spending more with outings
Most parents do leave some allowance for gas and outings and it is very possible that, when the summer comes, the allowance won’t last as long. Make sure you talk to your nanny about expenses, if you are able to provide for more activities and outings or if she should keep it within the budget.
4) Your nanny may be losing hours if you decide to take a random day off and ask her to stay home
In our industry, we have what we call “guaranteed hours” which basically means, we expect to be paid for all the hours we make ourselves available to work. That means, if the family decides to leave for a long weekend, or if grandpa is visiting and will take the kids out for movies and dinner and you will send your nanny home, she still expects to be paid for the hours she was scheduled to work. While some families will ask the nanny to make up those hours, I personally don’t think it is fair, and if I am not mistaken, it is also not legal if it is not made up within that same week.
I know this is a tricky topic and it seems perfectly reasonable to you to ask your nanny to make up the hours, but again, it is not her choice to go home early and have the day off. And, chances are she didn’t even have that much notice to plan ahead and actually seize that day. If she is anything like me or many of the nannies I know, we will just be home, cleaning. Think, if we had enough notice, we could even had scheduled a doctor’s or dentist appointment, on that random Wednesday afternoon… this is definitely something that should have been discussed when your nanny was first hired but if it wasn’t you may want to think about it check what expectations your nanny has to prevent from resentment later – I know, it sounds harsh, but yes, it is more common than you think!
5) Your nanny may not be comfortable with new responsibilities
Just recently, a fellow nanny shared with me that she wasn’t really comfortable with taking the kids to the pond. The kids are older and loved swimming. They have been taking swimming classes since birth and love the water. Why would she be uncomfortable? I had no idea! I personally think it is the coolest thing that she got to take them swimming! Then she told me…she didn’t know how to swim! That really made me think and it really is something that could be easily dismissed if you were hired when there was a pile of snow outside! Who would remember to ask the nanny if she can or not swim? Obviously, we would think this conversation would come up with summer and before taking the kids to the pool under the nanny’s watch but then again, you have a super nanny who is absolutely awesome and you believe she can do everything!
So, I urge you to ask your nanny about this before giving her the keys to the car to take the kids to Walden Pond! As for my nanny friend who didn’t know how to swim, after telling her bosses, they actually paid for her swimming lessons at their local gym and even though she won’t be a swimmer overnight, it has sure helped her confidence and gave her peace of mind when with the kids in the water. Isn’t that awesome?!
Enjoy the summer!
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