What is Nanny's Job Description?

To be honest, this really varies depending on the family, the age of the children and the nanny. First and foremost, a nanny's job is to keep your children, safe, well nourished and attended to.

Duties can include feeding the kids, bathing the children, monitoring TV time, computer time, planning activities for toddlers and preschool age children. Helping older children with homework. Driving children to activities and arranging play dates.

Most Nannies will agree that housework directly involving their charges is usually their responsibility. Therefore, keeping the children's rooms clean, doing their laundry, preparing their meals and cleaning up the dishes after the meals is usually part of the job.

But don't assume anything, discuss this in your interview and make sure it is in her job description and contract.

Now, if you'd really like her to vacuum the house once a week, prepare some dinners, or do more than just the kids laundry these things really need to be brought up during the interview. You should ask how she feels about doing these tasks and listen carefully to her response. If she gives a half-hearted answer of "Oh, that's ok." and you sense she's not really too thrilled about the idea, discuss it. "I get the feeling you may not like the idea of the added housework." It is best to really try to get an honest answer from her now, then find out two months from now that it's too much for her to handle and she's leaving for a job that doesn't require all the extra sweat.