Nannies are a great and convenient child care option for working moms. However, it is a difficult situation when your nanny or a potential candidate has a baby and also wants to bring the baby to work.
There is nothing wrong with the nanny having a child. In fact most nannies who are good at their job have kids of their own. Their own experience as a parent equips them with skills and knowledge of what your kid’s needs are. Also being in the same space as a parent, nanny who have kids are easier to relate with as they understand the journey of parenting.
It only becomes an issue when the nanny does not have a childcare plan and wants to come with her baby to work.
This would mean that the nanny will take care of your child and her child at the same time. Most moms are not comfortable with this situation because it means a lot of conflicts in professionalism, childcare, costs and boundaries. However there are benefits of this arrangement for your child social skills, overall growth and offering more convenience for your nanny.
Should you let the nanny bring her baby to work? Is it a bad or a good to have the nanny come to work with her baby? Are there things you need to consider when making these decisions? This post will guide you in this.
Reasons to Allow Nanny Bring Child to Work
1. Its Good for your Baby Growth and Development
Your baby will benefit a lot from having another baby around when you allow your nanny to come to work with her child. Being around another baby especially one around the same age will help their developmental and social skills.
Babies relate well to other babies. You do not have to worry because your kids will get along very well. They will all be friends and play mates especially and your kids social skills will tremendously improve from interacting with the nanny’s kids.
Your baby can only experience this at a daycare or other place there are other kids. It especially works well when the baby are around the same age. Some professional nannies can manage to adequately and equally meet the needs of these kids.
Read: Dealing with too much Nanny-Baby Attachment
2. It Improves Worker-Employee Relation
Allowing your nanny to come to work with her child may mean a lot for her. Childcare is expensive and she may not be in a position to afford a child care arrangement of her own. While it is not your duty, allowing her baby into your home goes a long way that improves her dedication and commitment to you.
It comes across as a very competitive package to nannies that help you retain them for long. Also caring for this vital need gives them a good mental space to offer the best services to you.
It’s pretty fair to consider this if they worked for you before & during my pregnancy and are now willing to come back after maternity leave but now with their child.
Working with a Nanny who Brings her Child to Work
If you think the situation can work, and it’s good for all parties then go for it. Be sure to lay down the necessary rules, boundaries, and guidelines to allow it to work. At the very least, a professional nanny will be able to prioritize the child with the greater need during any times of conflicting needs.
- You can start by doing work trials and monitoring how the nanny navigates the dynamics of caring for two kids.
- Only engage temporarily at first to test the new arrangement.
- If you don’t like it then simply look for another nanny. Don’t tell her you are ok with it and then make it weird for her and her baby.
Reasons You Shouldn’t Allow Nanny Bring their Child to Work
1.There is Conflict Of Interest
All things considered, there would be no such thing as the nanny providing the same type of attention/care to your child as her child. There is going to be a conflict of interest whereby you feel the nanny is more attentive and caring towards her baby than your baby who she is employed to care for.
For this reason it is not recommended to allow your nanny to come to work with her child. The nanny will naturally prioritize and care more for their child. Most nannies will not be able to offer equal care to both the kids.
2.It may Lead to Divided Attention/Care
When nanny bring her child to work, there will be divided care. Having to watch her baby and your baby means the attention would be split between the two. Yet one of the major reasons for you to hire a nanny for in-home care is to receive consistent one-on-one care dedicated to your baby.
A nanny caring for both her kids and those of her employer can only care adequately care for the needs of her kids and neglect the other. As such it is discouraged to allow your nanny come to work with her child as you will be dealing with a lot of neglect issues.
So when the nanny has her baby with her, your baby is not getting full attention. You may find different scenarios where she’d be paying significantly more attention to her baby than yours. It would appear then that there is not much difference between this arrangement with the nanny and the daycare.
Read: Choosing Between Nanny or Daycare for Toddler
3.Priorities/Favoritism from the Nanny
Your nanny is also a mom to her child. Therefore allowing her to come to work with her child leads to her playing favorite. Naturally, she would prioritize her baby’s needs more than any other child’s. This is one of the major areas of conflict for moms who are deliberating between hiring and not hiring a nanny who wants to bring her child to work, same age or not.
While it may come unconsciously it will appear that your child takes a second priority. Even when done unintentionally, this can have a huge impact on a child’s self-esteem. Things like that can make a child feel excluded and less than.
Also during conflicts, your child may never feel like things are “fair” even if the nanny is being unbiased. It is not a comfortable situation considering that you leave your child all day under her care.
You can get panic and anxiety attacks or actually wonder whether your child is receiving the right care you expected your nanny to deliver. For this reason, it is not a good idea to let your nanny come to work with her child.
Read: How to Set Boundaries between you and your Nanny
4. It Raises the Cost of Child Care
When you are paying a nanny who is also caring for another child it is like nanny sharing. It hence means that you are paying too much on the normal rate when the nanny brings in her child to work. It appears you are paying the nanny for the cost of two children.
Further, there are other costs like food or other things used in your home. Also, consider the cost of caring for diseases caught and spread between the two children.
In consideration of this, you must look at the rate that you are paying the nanny who brings her child with them to work. You should not pay them the normal rate as the other nanny in order to compensate for the additional costs you incur from the nanny’s kids coming to your house.
Do a reasonable average of how much additional expenses you have per month and balance this from the nanny’s pay rate. Eventually you should pay reasonably cheaper a nanny who brings her child to work than who doesn’t.
It’s also about what you feel comfortable with as an employer in terms of what you are paying for, and what your nanny feels is acceptable as an offer for services. This is where you have to look at it professionally.
Should Nanny Take My Child to her House
Some nanny may prefer to instead of coming to your house and baby sitting your child from there, they take your child to their house instead. This is a very uncomfortable situation and not recommended for moms because of the following reasons
- It is unprofessional- Your nanny work station is your house not her house
- It is not safe- Unlike your house, you are not in-charge of your nanny house and whatever is going on there, which makes it very unsafe for your child.
- Unquestionable childcare – When nanny takes care of your child at her house, you are denied power and authority of checking and verifying the kind of care your baby is receiving. Therefore your child may not be getting the right quality of childcare that you would want.
You should hence set clear rules and boundaries surrounding this. Your nanny is only allowed to care for your baby at your house. The nanny can however be allowed to go outdoors with the baby and visit places such as taking walks, go swimming, museums, shopping etc with your permission but not to their house. You child is safer in a public place than at your nanny house.
If the nanny is not comfortable with this arrangement then you should let her go. Consider it a red-flag unless the nanny has a reasonable and beneficial reason why they want to take your child with them to their house.
It is in fact illegal for the nanny to take your child to their house without your knowledge. It can be considered abduction or kidnapping.
Monitor your Nanny through Cameras
If you think you need to monitor your nanny and understand how your nanny treats your child in your absence, i suggest you do so through a nanny camera.
There are a variety of nanny cameras options in the market but go for one you can access remotely. You will be connected through your wi-fi and you can see if the presence of their child interferes with how your nanny cares for your child.
It will be hence easy for you to identify any unusual behavior happening. From here you will have information about how you can address any issue brought about by your nanny bringing their child to work.
I have nanny cameras in my house. I have them installed in the kitchen, living area, the porch and the baby sleeping room. Although i do not have an issue with my current nanny, i installed the nanny cameras when i had a nanny who brought their kid to work.
If you decide to install nanny cameras, buy a nanny camera with good quality and clarity with god resolution, WiFi enabled, zoom capabilities. If you work night shift, you may need a camera with a good quality night vision.
My cameras are HD 1080P resolution, audio enabled, wifi enabled and expandable local storage capacity.
If you think it appropriate also consider a camera with a two audio feature so that you can also listen and also talk to your nanny via the camera. Pan-and-tilt feature offers you a wider field of view that you can use when your nanny and baby gets out of focus.
You will find a variety of amazing and affordable nanny camera options here on Amazon to choose from.
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