If you have a nanny

Its never really dawned on me that our nanny could be taking the girls out in her car. Mary has been with us since I went back to work at 12 weeks, I went part time last year so she's only here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She's awesome, trustworthy, responble, etc. I was reading another post and saw that someone's nanny takes their children out regularly. When its nice outside Mary does take them on long walks and to our park which is just behind our house. But I've never given her the car seats and said to take them out. And am now wondering if the girls are missing out on experiences?? Do you let your nanny take them out, where do they go?

Thanks in advance!

 

Our nanny has been watching the girls since 12 weeks also (they are 7.5 months now) and she will be putting the car seats in her car once the weather gets nicer. We offered to let her put them in back in October when she started watching the girls, but she said she would wait until after winter. We don't live within walking distance of any parks or anything and our neighborhood is only one loop before you get to a main road with no sidewalks so if she wants to do anything with them other than walk around the neighborhood she has to have the carseats in her car. I envision her taking them to the playground when they get a bit older, to the mall just for a change of scenery and to places like gymboree for a treat. It makes me a little nervous to have someone else driving them around, but I don't want to make them housebound because I am paranoid.

 

My nanny is DH's 21 year old niece. She was FT but we recently started sending them to daycare 3 days/week and she's here now just 2 days/week. We mainly did the daycare switch to get them around other kids their age regularly. I knew an option was to have her drive them to playgroups and different things, but she's a terrible driver and we just couldn't do it. The minute she gets in her car she's on her cell phone, she's gotten more speeding tickets than I can count in the time she's worked for us, so daycare won out. She's good with my kiddos, takes them for walks and all that, and loves them dearly as her cousins too, she just can't drive.

If you feel your nanny is a safe driver, I'd allow it.

 

With DS no way … but I had big issue with anyone driving him… even relatives… that includes DH… but looking back it was a control issue and I felt VERY out of control back then… Now that I’ve been around the block, I see I’m the only one who doesn’t let their Nannies drive their kids…. I do plan on letting our Nanny drive either my son or the twins (but I don’t think all at the same time). I know I will have to let her go pick my son up at school or a practice or a friends if I want him to continue to have a life after his brothers are born and especially if BF works out… so to answer your question, no for now…. But I plan too

 

my mom watches my kids.. and yes she drives them places..

they arent aloud in the car with anyone but me. mom , x , inlaws...
no sil/ bil on either side.. and certainly not someone i havent known for many many years..
but thats just me.

yes they miss out but its only 2x a wk

 

We're just getting to this point ourselves. We've had a full time nanny for two and a half months and she's wonderful. She's great with my girls and very responsible. She really wants to start taking the girls out to the park and to storytime at the library, but we haven't been comfortable with it just yet. I live on the side of a steep hill so there's no way to take the girls out without getting in the car. Probably in the next few weeks we'll allow her to take the girls to the park a few times by herself and then if that goes well, will OK other type of trips. Part of my hesitation has been lack of control, part was getting into a routine with a new person, and the last part is because my girls are still pretty young.

 

I was a Nanny before the twins came.

At my first Nanny job, I was supplied with a vehicle that held the 19 month old son and the newborn twin girls. I took them to the park, kids music concerts, the mall and later on out for lunch. We had so much fun!

At the 2nd Nanny job I had, I used my car and took their only child (2 years old) everywhere. We went to the library and took out books once a week. We met up with a playgroup once a week, we went to gymboree now and then, the park, the mall, lunch, other friends houses. We went everywhere and it was great!

 

Noooooooooooooo - our nanny has been with us since the boys were 6 weeks old and is WONDERFUL but I'm not sure if I trust her car (it's an older one), so we've just said no. She's shopping for a new car and if she gets one we're more comfortable with, then maybe we'd consider it. As it is, our neighborhood has a private playground, marina, private beach - plenty of stuff to walk to.

 

I think if its just the two days then maybe wouldn't be necessary, more if she was full time. If you're comfortable with her taking your kids out, maybe you should ask her if she wants to.

My girls are 4, the daycare lady takes them bowling to park to playgroups etc.. the younger kids go too.

 

I let my Friday babysitter take the kids in her car. (They are with family the rest of the week and they also drive them.) Typically they go to the park down the street or to story time at the library. I just asked her not to be out and about running errands all day.

I was a nanny for 3 years and I also was given car seats to take the kids out. I did pick-up and drop-off to the kids activities, we did story time at the library twice per week, went to the park and sometimes to fun places like the zoo, Disneyland, etc...

 

My girls go to a home based private daycare. The woman is wonderful, and takes care of about 3 other children 1/2 time - my girls full time, plus she has a 7 year old herself. She has to pick her daughter up from school everyday, so yes, she puts my girls in the car. She told me this from the get go, and the school is approx. 3 miles from her home. She also takes them to Target / store occasionally, and I'm fine with it as I trust her completely, and we are very alike in our parenting styles, and our beliefs etc. on everything. She has a safe / new van with car seats etc. and is a great Mom. If I did not feel this way, I would not allow someone to drive around with my children.

 

My mom is the one that watches the girls for me and she just had to buy a new vehicle and actually chose a 4 door truck just so it'd be easier for her to get the girls in and out!

We'd already talked about me even leaving my car for her if she wanted to take the girls places. Totally trust her to take the girls out. But now I just need to get her some carseats and they'll be good to go. Once the weather gets a little nicer anyway, you know like JUNE the way things are going....

 

that's funny - our nanny's name was mary also and she was with us from when the kids were 12 weeks old also! anyway, to answer your q - with mary, no she did not drive them but that was because 1) her car wasn't the greatest and 2) she wasn't comfortable driving the kids, so we didn't want her doing anything she wasn't comfortable with. but she could walk them to parks, the library, their nursery school and play dates.

we have a new nanny (mary retired and i am now working for dh so we only have someone 3 days a week now), and i do let her drive them, but so far only in my car (hers is pretty old, and while it's reliable, dh is a nut about safety features). we are planning to get a used volvo wagon for her (and future au pairs) to use to drive them. i trust her driving (i had her drive them places in my car with me in the passenger seat) but not her car.

 

Our au pair picks the girls up from preschool, takes them to parks, on play dates, to the dollar store (they LOVE the dollar store), other stores, the mall, out for pizza, to parties, etc.

 

We purchased two additional car seats and our nanny keeps them in her car all the time. She takes them out once or twice a week to the mall, park, etc. We pay for her gas and expenses on a per-mile basis.

 

I was a full time nanny before the boys were born. After 3 months of working for hte family I asked if I could take the kids out places. There was no issue at all. I took the kids on playdates,to the library, zoo, beach, to my parents pool, to and from school, hockey and summer school. In the begining I just took them where I wanted to by the time I left they had me hauling their kids EVERYWHERE! that was a bit much and I was NEVER offered gam money. I felt if I wanted to take them someplace that I had no problem with pay for gas but when I had to drive them everywhere else the parents wanted me to I thought I should have been given gas money. I remember one summer one of the kids sttended summer school and I drove 20 miles to school 20 back to there house 20 back to school to get him and then 20 back home and this was 4 days a week and I never say a penny for it. Ok I went off there sorry

But yes I did take the kids I watched out. Now my kids... I dont know if I would let a nanny take them out. I dont have one but i guess it would depend on my realtionship with her.

good luck!