diaper
pail, how will you feel? If the answer is fine, then you’re lucky. You are
extremely flexible and easy going. You are also probably in the extreme
minority.
Many women come home tired, cranky,
and resentful that they now have to make dinner. To see a happy nanny and a
happy child who not only don’t look like they missed her at all -- but might
even have had a better time with her at work, than if she’d stayed home, may
just be infuriating because it may make the mother feel like she’s paying
someone to have all the fun, while she not only works to make money, but has to
do the housework, too. Not a good feeling.
Some options are:
- Have the nanny do all of the housework.
- Have the nanny just do housework when the child is napping.
- Have the nanny do just the child’s housework (the child’s
room and laundry).
- Have the nanny do no housework.
- Hire a housekeeper one (or more) day (s) a week who can also
watch the child instead of the nanny, and the nanny can work just with the
child on the other days.
- Hire a housekeeper who watches the child.
- Hire a housekeeper in addition to the nanny.
How does your child fit into the decision about whether
your nanny should do housework?
All of these options are viable and
have been tried and true. When deciding what the right option for you is, you
have to consider what kind of child – or children – you have. Are these the
kind of children who need a lot of attention, and will be upset if the nanny is
doing laundry or dishes – or are they the kind of children who will want to
pitch in and help? And if they are, are you okay if your child is helping the
nanny with domestic chores? Some parents only want their children doing
creative or academic things rather than household chores. Is your child the
kind who can amuse him or herself with an art project, a book or a toy while
the nanny picks up the house?
If you have the kind of child who is dependent on an adult,
and/or has been raised with an “attachment parenting” philosophy, then you may
want to reconsider having your nanny do housework while your child is awake.
The child may become anxious if the nanny isn’t spending time with the child.
On the other hand, after the nanny is no longer new, it may be part of your
sensibility to allow the child to be “part of the team” that makes the
household run, and allow him or her to help out with the dishes, the sweeping
and the picking up. And then again, if you want to wean your child from
“attachment
