Nannies Don’t Want to Clean Up Their Boss’s Messes on Monday Morning

Nanny Confessions
By Stephanie Felzenberg, Nanny and Editor of How to Be the Best Nanny

Nannies work in a service industry and they are at-will employees. Although caring for children is their priority, it is normal for nannies to do some housekeeping, even if they do not want to. The best nannies try to keep the kitchen and children’s areas clean, neat, and organized even when those duties aren’t spelled out in a work agreement.

But, that doesn’t mean nannies like walking into a messy house or to dirty dishes on Monday mornings. It's overwhelming to start the work day, or work week, having to clean up other people’s messes.

Many nannies hate having to do any housekeeping at all. Their reasoning is justified. Housekeeping chores do detract nannies from providing care for the children. But, no matter what field people work in, sometimes employees have to do things they don't want to at their jobs.

My confession to nannies this week is that I feel your frustration, but helping clean up after the children is part of our job. My confession to the parents is that nannies are childcare providers that want to focus on caring for your children, not cleaning up your messes.