Nanny Agency Jobs How-to / checklist

When the family you work for is expecting a baby, ask for a conversation about the work plan before new responsibilities become assumptions. Start with the children and duties already in your role, then identify what the family is proposing for the weeks around the arrival and for the later routine.

A useful plan has phases. The arrangement before the baby arrives may differ from the period when a parent is away from work, and both may differ from the eventual working week. This guide helps you record responsibilities, named adult coverage and unresolved decisions across those phases.

Start with the current role

Bring the current work agreement and a concise description of an ordinary week. List the children you care for, the work blocks and the duties you currently complete. Include recurring tasks that can be easy to overlook, such as planning activities, organising children’s belongings or preparing for the next day.

INA recommends updating agreements when additional children or changed duties alter a role. INA recommended practices for nanny employers.

Use that discussion to identify what is actually proposed. A new baby does not tell you, by itself, which responsibilities you will have. Ask whether your focus will remain on the existing children, include care of the baby or change across different parts of the day. Separate a possible arrangement from one the family is ready to agree.

Map three phases instead of one future week

For the before-arrival phase, identify any proposed preparation tasks and whether they fit into the present work plan. If the family asks for additional preparation, discuss what will move or receive less time. Write down any unresolved priority rather than promising to fit everything in.

For the arrival phase, ask which adult will coordinate day-to-day changes. Establish who handles the existing children if plans shift and who confirms a different start, finish or work location. Use dates where known and name the event that will trigger an update where dates remain uncertain.

For the later routine, request a separate review before that phase begins. A parent’s return to work or the departure of temporary support may create a different proposed arrangement. Do not use a tentative future outline as permission to change today’s duties. Mark it as a proposal until the details are confirmed.

Complete a phased responsibility worksheet

Use one copy of these fields for each phase. The worksheet is an original planning aid, not a newborn-care plan.

  • Phase and trigger: Before arrival, arrival period or later routine; expected dates or update event.
  • Children in your care: Who you are responsible for during each named block.
  • Other adult coverage: The named adult handling other care and the times they have actually confirmed.
  • Existing duties retained: Work that continues in this phase.
  • Proposed duties added: Specific work being discussed, with confirmation status.
  • Duties moved or paused: What another person will handle or what will wait.
  • Overlapping demands: Times when two tasks would require you in different places.
  • Support needed: The adult involvement, information or preparation required for the proposed work.
  • Daily decision contact: Who resolves changes to the plan.
  • Next review: Date or trigger, plus who will arrange it.

If you cannot describe a proposed responsibility confidently, identify the information or preparation you need before agreeing. Avoid writing “help with everything” where the discussion still needs to define a task. Keep care instructions in the appropriate family care plan, separate from this allocation of work.

Test the plan with overlapping responsibilities

Fictional example: Nora currently cares for two school-age children from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The family is expecting a baby. During the initial arrival period, the parents propose that Nora retain her existing role while parent Sam handles the baby during Nora’s working hours.

Their worksheet keeps school collection and the older children’s afternoon plans with Nora. Proposed baby-related laundry remains an open question until they review the time available. They do not simply add it to the existing list.

For the later routine, the family proposes baby care before school collection. That creates a coverage question: who will care for the baby while Nora is away? Sam’s relative has offered occasional help but has not confirmed those hours. The worksheet records “coverage unconfirmed,” not the relative’s name as an assigned caregiver.

At the review, the family changes the proposal so that another named adult will handle school collection on specified days. Nora and the parents then review the revised responsibilities as a whole. The later plan is confirmed only after the remaining coverage questions have answers.

Confirm the next phase and revisit it

Read the agreed phase back in plain language: which children, which times, which duties and which other adults. Update the work-plan record so it matches the confirmed arrangement. Keep unrelated open questions visible for their own decisions instead of implying that agreement on one phase settles every future term.

Set a review while the next phase is still ahead. Ask what has changed since the first discussion, whether named support is still available and whether duties that were paused are expected to return. Use observed scheduling conflicts to revise the plan, without assuming how any parent or child will respond to the transition.

The immediate aim is a workable next phase with clear ownership. Later arrangements can remain proposals until there is enough information to confirm them.

Sources

International Nanny Association: Recommended Practices for Nanny Employers.