Babysitting children is difficult since it requires a great deal of patience and care. It is tough and requires a tremendous lot of effort, commitment, and accountability to live up to expectations. In this story a mother found a genuinely good nanny but there is something that’s making her quit the job. Read the story and let us know how you would deal with such a situation.
Source: Reddit
My husband and I are first-time parents of 6-month-old twins. We hired a nanny to care for them while I work out of the house and my husband WFH. She started with us when they were 8 weeks old. I was under the impression that he was staying in his office a majority of the day, only coming down during the kids’ nap time to eat (there’s a bathroom right off his ensuite so there’s no reason why he would need to be downstairs otherwise). In the beginning, everything seemed great with our nanny. She was kind and seemed happy to be working for us.
Over the past month, I noticed she was acting weird and couldn’t wait to leave. I didn’t exactly blame her, she’s caring for infant twins. I’m often excited to go to work so I can get a break from them. But it just wasn’t her. I didn’t know how to approach it until Friday night when I came home a little early. My husband was starting dinner and the nanny was settling the kids in their high chairs.
My husband went over to help her and then said “Oh, I think (son) has a poopy diaper”. I said “Well, you can change it”. He told me “Nanny is still here, it’s her job, just let her do it”. I was kind of appalled, it was the end of her shift and we were both home. One of us could easily do it and it seemed very flippant of her job. I apologized to the nanny and took my son to change him.
Later that night, I got a text from the nanny letting me know that she was requesting a meeting to discuss her future with our family, because she’s unsure she wants to continue. I asked her what was going on and she said DB was often asking her to do things that were outside of her contracted tasks (clean their highchairs after they eat, serve them already prepared food and throw in a load of laundry twice a week, I fold it when I get home). He had also asked her to come in early several days or stay late on nights I had to work late, which she had told us before starting work she couldn’t do. She had already spoken to him several times and nothing had changed. I was embarrassed because I had no clue this was happening and felt awful she had been going through this.
I spoke with my husband and he admitted he felt since we were paying her, she should be performing more tasks while the babies are sleeping. I quickly corrected him and reamed him out for this behavior. Once I was done explaining why this wasn’t appropriate, he got a little sheepish and sent an apology email to the nanny, agreeing to the meeting come Monday evening.
I am worried that she is going to quit and I need advice on how to fix this. She has been an amazing nanny, the babies love her and I really do not want to lose her. Does anyone have advice on how to fix all of this?
