What is the difference between a housekeeper and nanny? Both roles can help households with their daily activities. Both housekeepers and nannies are becoming increasingly popular over the years as more households see both parents having to work part time. These roles provide help with light household duties such as cooking, and help parents look after their children after school and during the holidays. So how exactly are a housekeeper and nanny similar, and how are they different? Will a housekeeper or a nanny fit better in your household? We discuss those questions here.
Shared Duties
Both housekeepers and nannies have overlapping roles, and these are some of the duties that both can perform:
- Fetching children to and from school and extracurricular activities such as music lessons and sports clubs
- Organizing activities for the children to do after school and during the holidays
- Ensuring that children have all the items they need for school the next day, such as their uniform
- Laundry and ironing for the household
- Running errands for the children
Differences
While much of their work overlaps, both housekeepers and nannies have different specializations. If your household has young children, it may not be realistic for a housekeeper to help care for both the entire home and an infant at the same time. Instead, you may want to hire a nanny – or an assistant housekeeper – to help give your young child the full attention they require. Or you may wish to hire a full-time nanny and an assistant housekeeper who can help with deep cleaning the house once a week. It all depends on the exact requirements of your household.
Households typically hire nannies to provide their children with attentive and personalized care. Nannies have an intensive workload, as they have to care for your child’s intellectual, emotional, and social health, in addition to ensuring that your child’s day-to-day needs are taken care of. Because of this intense workload, some nannies do not take on additional housekeeping duties, and choose to focus on the wellbeing and care of your children instead.
However, there are certain individuals who are open to taking on the dual role of housekeepers/nannies. Housekeepers/nannies typically choose to work in homes where children are young enough to require supervision, yet are not too young that they need intensive care throughout the day. This means that you have someone at home to take care of your children while ensuring that your household is maintained. This is often not possible if you have very young children who must be carefully watched throughout the day. Housekeepers/nannies often prefer that children under their watch be able to maintain a degree of independence so that they can carry out other household tasks while keeping an eye on them.
Whether you choose to go with a housekeeper, nanny, or someone who performs both roles, it is important to note that this individual will be an integral part of your household. It is thus important to work with someone who your family feels comfortable with.