Rules to discuss when hiring a new nanny

An important part of a creating a nanny contract is figuring out the house rules and what rules your nanny should follow when caring for your children. Below is a sample to get you started. Personalize it based on your own needs and child care beliefs.

Use these rules in addition to your nanny contract. Check out our Sample Nanny Contract 

Your Next Steps:

• Copy the text below and paste it into a document.
• Look it over and figure out what rules you should include for your family and situation.
• Go over the rules with your nanny and let her ask questions.
• Print out two copies of the rules, sign both and ask your nanny to do the same — then you each keep a copy.
• Create a nanny contract.
• Consider signing up for a payroll account to make handling payment and nanny taxes easier.
• Make sure your new nanny has everything they need for their first day.

Nanny Rules

Note: this is a document that the parents and nanny will work with and develop together over their relationship and as the children grow. The goal is for parents to take time to fill out this document at the start of the relationship, but update it as the child’s needs develop and change — and the trust grows deeper between parents and nanny.

Date:

Family Philosophy:
This is where you will want to describe yourselves and how you like to raise your child(ren). Talk about the things that make you happy and playful as well as the things you will be strict about. Explain what is important to you (ex. equal balance of devotion between multiple children, inventing activities, stern discipline, playfulness, organized, and always at-the-ready)
_______________________________________________________

Punishment Style:
This is where you will write about how you would like to handle a progression of bad behavior. Explain your point of view on spanking, Time Outs, or any other style in which you use to discipline. Then give examples of behavior that gets moderate discipline versus maximum discipline?
__________________________________________________________________________

• Hitting: ____________________
• Swearing: __________________
• Throwing: __________________
• Biting: _____________________
• ___________________________
• ___________________________
• ___________________________
• ___________________________

Positive Reinforcement:
Explain how you plan to handle positive behavior.
__________________________________________________________________________

House Rules:
Write a list of what behavior will not be tolerated. This is so you and your nanny can work together to raise the child(ren) with the same rules in mind.

• No hitting
• No biting
• ___________________________
• ___________________________
• ___________________________
• ___________________________

Sleep Preferences:
Talk about the relationship your child might have with sleep and how you prefer the nanny handle things like swaddling, pacifiers, attachment objects, and sleep techniques you might be trying like “Ferberizing.” Explain how you want your nanny to be a partner in this process.
__________________________________________________________________________

Keeping Schedules (see attached form for sample schedule):
If keeping your child on a schedule, describe the importance that you and your family and nanny maintain this schedule. Provide reasons why it would be understandable to go “off-schedule” and how you would want your nanny to handle such a situation. (For example, if child isn’t napping, should nanny allow child to “cry it out”?)
______________________________________________________________________

Communication:
How would you like to hear from your nanny throughout the day? What forms of communication are okay, and what is not? How much is too much? Or is it never too much? How would you like to discuss concerns that arise?
__________________________________________________________________________

Vacation:
After providing your nanny with a certain numbers of paid days off per year, you will want to describe how vacation days should be requested (as in, do you chose a week and she chooses a week, or do you select both weeks off?)
__________________________________________________________________________

The Nanny/Family Relationship:
Outline how you would like to learn and grow from each other. Describe how much checking in you will require, how much managing you will want to do of his/her daily schedule and before or at the end of each day. Describe how you will handle your role when you are in the house (is she in charge or should kids come to you?), how often you will want to check in for a performance review (and if there will be a monetary raise involved), and how you want her to feel within your family.
______________________________________________________________

Signatures:

Employer hereby agrees to be fully bound by the terms of this contract.

Employer Signature: _____________________________________

Printed Name: __________________________________________

Date: _______________

Employee hereby agrees to be fully bound by the terms of this contract.

Employee Signature: _____________________________________

Printed Name: __________________________________________

Date: _______________