I ask myself this question every single day and am curious to hear responses. We graduated from 2u2 at the end of last year and have a 21 month age gap. I love my kids more than words could explain but this is the hardest thing I have ever done and can’t understand why. Is 2 under 3 just as hard? Is it the constant naps? Is it 2 in diapers? WHAT IS IT?!!!
The weather has been cold & the 10 day doesn’t look great. I was planning to plant this weekend. I’ve had my tubers in perlite for a few weeks in my garage, I’ll have eyes and most have some growth. Any advice?
Hi all, looking for advice.
We’ve had our nanny for 2 years, mostly great relationship, we pay well and are very supportive. She currently cares for my almost 2.5-year old and 7-month old. I WFH full-time due to my 7-month old bottle refusal and will go back to work within a few months, but only in office 2 days a week.
My toddler is in a class 2 mornings/week, my husband and I do pickup/dropoff, and I handle all feeds/naps for the baby to lighten her load (also because of bottle refusal).
My toddler is generally wonderful *for a toddler* (great with teachers, grandparents, in public), but has been giving our nanny a hard time for a few months and it’s gotten worse recently. This behavior is only with our nanny. Toddler understandably struggled when I started working again and our nanny had to care for both my toddler and baby.
At the same time, our nanny is going through a major personal situation (her brother is very sick and likely passing soon overseas). She’s understandably distracted/upset and will need time off soon to travel. We fully support that even though managing this additional time off will be extremely challenging for us. We pay her in full for three weeks of vacation in addition to sick days and leaving early/coming late. She is taking three weeks of vacation this year which she notified me of in January, and did not leave any room to take days off for appointments or emergencies but we have been paying her regardless. This additional week to travel for her brother‘s funeral we will also pay her for.
During working hours, I really need her to be present and patient and right now she’s struggling which seems to be making my toddler’s behavior worse (feels like a negative loop). My toddler is very intelligent and extremely perceptive, and it feels like she’s pushing boundaries because she knows my nanny is not her usual self.
I don’t want to blame her given what she’s going through, but I also can’t manage my job and unstable childcare during the day.
How do you handle a nanny going through something major personally while still working?
How do you set expectations around being present without sounding insensitive?
I’m trying to support her while also keeping things stable for my kids and job. This is also not the first scenario where we’ve had to be very flexible for something she’s going through personally. Generally, I feel like I do so much to accommodate her and given this is her job it shouldn’t be so hard.