It’s day 4 and things are starting to get a bit tougher as we follow a nanny and a mother through the first week in a new job, but who is feeling the strain? If you’re joining us part way through catch up on day 1, day 2 and day 3 first!
Nanny:
So today was the first tantrums from almost everybody. Eldest didn’t want to go to school because they have swimming and he didn’t want to go, which nearly made us late. I couldn’t find the church hall for toddler group, not that it seemed very appropriate for a 6 month old but MB obviously wants me to keep the routine going at least for the time being. People weren’t terribly friendly either when I tried to introduce myself although I met a lovely childminder who told me about a group that lots of nannies go to so I’ll try and bring that up with MB. I never know how soon to suggest introducing new things. On the one hand I think it shows I’m being proactive but on the other hand I don’t want to feel like I’m criticising the way things are at the moment and I know that wanting to go to this group is totally for me at the moment, even though I’ll hopefully meet nannies with charges a similar age to the older ones as well.
Charge number three was having so much fun at nursery she wanted to stay and not come home with me. Youngest didn’t want to go down for a nap so I didn’t get everything I wanted to done in the afternoon. I hope the older girl keeps her nap for a good long time or I’ll be really behind on laundry and cooking. 4 charges feels a lot more work than 3!
Only charge number two didn’t have a full on meltdown but he did get grumpy that we might be late for school and tried to kick his brother. I’m beginning to think I had it easy the first couple of days and now everyone is showing their true colours. I got a bit strict because I want to nip any bad behaviour in the bud so I hope they don’t give me a bad report this evening. It’s really important that some things get done on time and they need to learn that applies to time with me as well. I just didn’t think they’d be testing so soon. It’s also really difficult when you don’t know their personalities well enough to spot when they’re tired or getting annoyed with each other and you can’t step in early enough to prevent ructions. I forgot that part of settling into a job…
I have achy legs again and my upper back is starting to resent the buggy board. 4 school runs today because the eldest had an afterschool activity at school. I might see if we can find something to do that isn’t go home, take shoes off, have a snack and put shoes on again. There must be a park nearby, or possibly going to the library. When the weather turns bad going back out again in the dark and cold is just going to be awful.
Didn’t reply to MB’s text because she sent it just as the girls were waking from their nap and it was all go for bottle, school, back, school, back and I genuinely forgot. She didn’t mention it when she got home so I hope she’s not really annoyed and saving it up to fire me with tomorrow. I hope I didn’t come across as too tensed up either, because to be honest today really wasn’t an ideal day and there are a lot of thing I would like to do better.
Mother:
Today started with an odd question about the boys clothes. I hadn’t realised they had so much stuff the same size but they do definitely have different clothes. It’s bad enough people thinking they’re twins already without them sharing clothes. I obviously don’t deal with unexpected questions in the morning well but by the time I got home she’d taken the initiative and got the boys to help her.
A lot busier so I didn’t have the temptation to call as much but I did fire off a quick text before I managed to stop myself and got no reply which worried me a bit. I could see how hectic the afternoon had been when I got back though so I forgave her. It would be a bit of a pot, kettle, black situation because my husband is forever telling me off for not answering my phone or responding to messages or emails. It’s quite reassuring to see that everything is getting done and that means I should be able to focus 100% on work when I’m there and not worry. It’s a big jump to having a nanny not just the stuff you have to do to become an employer but also the emotions that go with it. I never felt that I would be replaced by a nursery or our childminder but having someone do exactly what I do every day is a bit disconcerting.