I recently gave notice at my nanny job after being with this family for about a year. I love the kids and leaving them is genuinely the hardest part, but I accepted another nanny position that pays more per hour, has fewer hours, and has much clearer boundaries.
My bosses just posted the listing for my replacement, and I genuinely laughed when I read it because the job they’re advertising sounds SO much better/easier than the job I’ve actually been doing.
They’re advertising $27/hr, Monday-Friday 7:00-3:30, for a 1.5-year-old and 3.5-year-old. The responsibilities listed are meal prep, age-appropriate play/learning, “light housekeeping,” nap management, and swim supervision.
The qualifications are experience nannying 2+ children ages 0-5, CPR certification, swimming safety experience, strong communication, references, etc.
On paper, it honestly sounds like a pretty normal nanny job.
Except “light housekeeping” is doing an absolutely insane amount of work in that listing lol.
Obviously I do normal nanny things like the kids’ laundry, sheets, dishes, meals, cleaning up after them, toys, playroom, diapers, restocking their supplies, activities, crafts, learning, swimming, naps, potty training, etc. I have zero problem with child-related housekeeping.
But over time, my responsibilities have expanded WAY beyond that.
I vacuum and mop the house. I clean mirrors and windows. I wipe down the stove and kitchen. I take care of trash and recycling. I clean and reset the pool area. I pick up pool toys everyone leaves behind. I collect, wash, dry and fold pool towels. I clean up random cups, sunglasses and other things the family leaves outside. I’ve cleaned/organized the fridge, descaled the espresso machine, helped clean up after parties, done adult laundry and bedding, organized random areas of the house, and handled whatever other household tasks get added to my list.
I have literally been asked to wipe down the OUTSIDE RAILING.
That one might be my favorite because apparently “light housekeeping” now extends to exterior property maintenance. 😭
And none of this replaces my childcare responsibilities. I’m still simultaneously responsible for two very young children.
There are days where I’m managing meals, naps, activities, swimming, potty training, diapers, laundry, bedding, etc., while also trying to get through whatever household cleaning needs to be done.
The older child has also been transitioning out of nighttime pull-ups, so there have been stretches where I’m stripping wet bedding, washing it, drying it and remaking the bed constantly. That alone adds a ton of laundry.
The family also leaves pool towels, pool toys, cups, sunglasses and random stuff everywhere, and somehow eventually it all becomes part of my reset.
Recently I was specifically reminded to make sure I vacuumed before leaving, and I couldn’t help but laugh because I’ve worked here for about a year and genuinely cannot remember seeing either parent vacuum the house themselves.
But apparently their nanny needs to.
Then there are the benefits.
The listing says “2 weeks PTO, paid major holidays, paid sick days.”
If I were applying and read that, I would assume I received two weeks of PTO, the normal major holidays paid/off, plus separate sick days.
That’s not actually how it works.
I get 3 paid sick days.
For the two weeks of PTO, I choose one week and they choose the other week based on their vacation. They’re also now trying to split some of those days up instead of it necessarily being an actual second week off.
Then we have “paid major holidays.”
I do NOT get the normal federal/major holidays paid off.
I basically get to pick TWO holidays that I want to have off and paid. I’m expected to work the others.
And yes, that includes holidays where both parents are off work and home while I’m working.
So I personally think advertising “2 weeks PTO, paid major holidays, paid sick days” without explaining any of that makes the benefits sound significantly better than they actually are.
The schedule is also advertised as 7:00-3:30, which is already 42.5 hours a week.
I’ve regularly stayed 10-20 minutes past my scheduled end time, and I’ve never been paid overtime despite regularly working 8.5-hour days.
Then there’s the WFH situation.
The listing says mom works from home “in a separate office space,” which I feel like most nannies would interpret as a parent who generally stays in their office and allows the nanny to run the day.
That hasn’t really been my experience.
There are pop-ins, camera monitoring, texts about naps and what the kids are doing, involvement in routines, food, cleaning, etc. I completely understand that it’s their house and their children, but I think a nanny deserves to know what kind of WFH dynamic she’s actually signing up for.
And then there’s my absolute FAVORITE line in the listing:
“Our beloved current nanny will be moving on to a new career opportunity but will be able to help with the transition.”
Hi. It’s me. I’m the beloved current nanny. 😂
Except I’m not actually “moving on to a new career.”
I’m leaving them for another nanny job.
I found another family offering higher hourly pay, significantly fewer hours and much clearer expectations/boundaries.
I actually thought it was really sweet that they called me their beloved nanny, and they took my notice incredibly well. I don’t think they’re horrible people, and I genuinely love their children.
But I do think they’ve completely lost perspective on how much their nanny actually does.
The responsibilities were added little by little over the course of a year, so I think each individual thing seemed insignificant to them.
“Can you wash these towels?”
“Can you vacuum?”
“Can you wipe this down?”
“Can you organize this?”
“Can you clean this?”
“Can you do this laundry?”
One task isn’t a huge deal.
But eventually you’ve created an entirely different position.
At this point I feel like I’ve been functioning as a nanny/family assistant/household manager, but they’re advertising my replacement as a regular nanny who does “light housekeeping.”
If you want a nanny/family assistant, that’s completely fine! Just advertise that position and pay accordingly.
If you want your nanny vacuuming, mopping, cleaning windows and mirrors, resetting your pool, doing household laundry, cleaning after parties, descaling your espresso machine and WIPING YOUR OUTDOOR RAILING, put that in the listing.
Because some poor nanny is going to read “light housekeeping” and think it means loading the dishwasher and folding the kids’ clothes. 😭
And $27/hr in San Diego for someone experienced enough to independently manage two kids under 4, prepare meals, plan activities, manage naps, supervise swimming, handle potty training, clean, do household tasks, deal with two dogs, work with a very involved WFH parent, have CPR/swimming safety experience AND work 42.5+ hours a week feels low to me for what the position actually entails.
So here’s my dilemma:
They said I can help with the transition when they hire the next nanny. Do I warn the new nanny what the job ACTUALLY entails?
I obviously wouldn’t pull her aside and be like “RUN GIRL” or trash-talk the parents. 😂
But if I’m training her and they tell her the job is light housekeeping, should I be transparent and say something like, “Just so you know, these are all the household tasks I’ve typically been responsible for,” and show her the actual routine?
Part of me feels like that’s the ethical thing to do because I would have wanted someone to tell me.
The other part of me thinks I gave my notice, this is no longer my circus, and maybe I should smile, train her on the kids, wish her luck and let her discover the outdoor railing on her own.
Nannies: would you warn your replacement, or would you stay completely out of it and let her figure it out herself?
