My boyfriend travels for work so he’s not able to provide the support and help I need for our 6-month-old son. It turns out that I have a 19-year-old cousin who is trying to figure out what to do with her life. She moved to Georgia with her boyfriend for a fresh start, but they broke up soon after her arrival. Now she’s virtually homeless and living with me and my small family.
This past weekend, my boyfriend and I sat down with her and presented the idea of her being our live-in nanny. We explained our rules and regulations for the household, and then outlined our expectations of her as our nanny. The main message that we wanted to convey was that we needed her to focus on the baby during work hours and to minimize time spent on social media and her phone. She assured us that doing so would not be an issue.
On our first day we did a trial run, and she woke up late. She was supposed to come and get the baby from me by 8 a.m. so I could shower and get dressed and get to a meeting I had at 10 a.m. She didn’t wake up on her own and I had to wake her at 8:25 a.m., but still ended up being late for my meeting. Later that night, I had a talk with her and reiterated the importance of punctuality and dependability.
Three months later and her professionalism has not improved.
We’re paying her a pretty attractive stipend for her to serve as our nanny, but aren’t receiving the services that we would be getting from an au pair or nanny that we hired, granted the costs for the professional’s services would be higher. My boyfriend wants me to end the arrangement, but he’s not here and doesn’t realize that even a little help is better than no help at all. Should I continue to try to train my cousin or hire a professional nanny to assist with my son?
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