For those of you who have nannies, how do you handle vacation time (yours, not theirs)?

We are looking into going to Nantucket for a week this summer and are undecided about whether to bring our nanny or not. If we don't, do we still pay her for that week, even though she's not watching the kids? We chose to take the vacation, not her, so part of me feels like we should pay her. If we do take her, am I correct that the general rule is pay for her food and lodging, in addition to paying her the regular wages?

If it makes a difference, we pay our nanny by the hour under the table. So, so far she only gets paid for the days she works. (no benefits, etc.)

i don't have a nanny, but i do pay my daycare lady when we are on vacation. i'm pretty sure that's standard practice.

I used to be a nanny when I was in college. I didn't get paid when they were on vacation, however I did it in college for extra money, I wasn't full time and I didn't rely on that money to live.

I did travel with them during the summer, they paid for my food, lodging, as well as any activities I did with the kids (admissions fees etc.). They also paid me a flat fee for the week, rather than my hourly wage.

I did travel with them during the summer, they paid for my food, lodging, as well as any activities I did with the kids (admissions fees etc.). They also paid me a flat fee for the week, rather than my hourly wage.
This sounds fair. I like the flat rate idea.

Like Kim, we pay the sitter if we go on vacation.

I like the flat rate idea as well. Especially since she probably won't be doing AS much as if she had the kids by herself.

If you don't take her with you, I'd say a flat rate for the week's pay that she's missing out on.

For those of you who have nannies, how do you handle vacation time (yours, not theirs)?

We are looking into going to Nantucket for a week this summer and are undecided about whether to bring our nanny or not. If we don't, do we still pay her for that week, even though she's not watching the kids? We chose to take the vacation, not her, so part of me feels like we should pay her. If we do take her, am I correct that the general rule is pay for her food and lodging, in addition to paying her the regular wages?

If it makes a difference, we pay our nanny by the hour under the table. So, so far she only gets paid for the days she works. (no benefits, etc.)We are going away for Queen's birthday weekend 5 days in total, and taking our Nanny with us, we have paid for her flight, luckily we are staying are friends so lodging is covered. We pay a flat fee every week (under the table) so in return for her flight costs and the weekend off to do what she likes we have asked that she mind the children for one night so that DH, myself and the friends we are staying with can all go out for a meal.

Normally she would not get paid for holidays be it hers or ours.

Thanks everyone! We're taking her with us. I haven't worked out the flat rate v. hourly wage thing yet, but I can talk with her and see how her previous family did it. She's excited to go with us, and we're psyched to have her!

Can I ask how much you pay your nanny? Does she do any other work, like house work for you? Does she live in or out? Thanks! joan

Joan, we pay her $15/hr. for two kids. When she first started and Krishan wasn't born yet, we paid her $12/hr. It's expensive, but that's a pretty standard rate for 2 kids in Boston. She lives out, and works 36 hrs a week. She does do housework if we ask her to, things like running the dishwasher (and loading/unloading it), light laundry, and grocery shopping (she walks to the grocery store everyday to get a salad for lunch, so sometimes we leave her money and ask her to pick up a few items for us.)

Feel free to ask any other questions if you have 'em!