We have a live-in nanny for the first time ever. She has been with us two months. There are some issues that we need to work on, but one that I don't know how to address is with food. As a live-in, she eats her meals here. She grocery shops for me, which is helpful. The problem I see is with her meal times. The children are on a regular schedule so they eat their meals as breakfast when they get up, lunch mid day and dinner around 6. The nanny has breakfast at 10, lunch around 3 and dinner at around 8 or 9. I didn't think to address this in the beginning because it never occurred to me. There are a couple of problems with this. The first is that she cooks her meals during what I would think would be working time. When she schedules a play date or appointment, it is either around her meal schedule or at our house and during. The second problem is that my children, 2 and almost 4, sample in her meals. If they eat breakfast at 8, I don't like this habbit of the second breakfast followed by lunch followed by a second lunch. The third problem is that when I have suggested that she makes her meals in advance, she got upset and asked "Why don't I deserve fresh food". When I followed up with a suggestion that the warm weather would make it ideal for her to pack lunches for all three and go to the playground, she asked me, "Where would I eat?" I suggested she eat on a picnic blanket with the children or a picnic table. She replied that it was bad for digestion to eat on the run and made me feel like I was suggesting something outlandish. She's worked as a nanny before. She takes the children to the park, I know she sees other nannies lunch with their charges. It has been two months and she seems very rigid in her eating routine. The last problem is that she cooks her main meal at around 8. She gets off at 7 when my husband and I come home. This is causing my husband and I to fall into a pattern of taking the children upstairs, putting them to bed and staying upstairs until she is done. I have no problem with the expense of the food, but I can't live like this.
